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Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. [3] It also refers to the soil's ability to supply plant/crop nutrients in the right quantities and qualities over a sustained period of time.
Natural topsoil is mined and conditioned for human use and makes up the bulk of commercial topsoil available. The current rate of use and erosion outpaces soil generation. [4] It is possible to create artificial topsoil which supports some of the engineering or biological uses of topsoil. [4]
The amount of carbon a soil can sequester depends on the climate and current and historical land-use and management. [6] Cropland has the potential to sequester 0.5–1.2 Pg C/year and grazing and pasture land could sequester 0.3–0.7 Pg C/year. [7] Agricultural practices that sequester carbon can help mitigate climate change. [8]
The most common parameter used in soil salinity is the electric conductivity of the extract (ECe) of a saturated soil paste in units of deciSiemens per metre (dS/m) (previously measured in millimhos per centimeter (mmho/cm)). Bernstein presented the following soil classification based on ECe in dS/m: [11] ECe 0–2 non-saline soil
Plasticulture is the use of plastic mulch in agriculture. Farmers use plastic sheets as mulch to cover 50-70% of the soil and allow them to use drip irrigation systems to have better control over soil nutrients and moisture. Rain is not required in this system, and farms that use plasticulture are built to encourage the fastest runoff of rain.
Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, [1] improving the water cycle, [2] enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, [3] increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) (or climate resilient agriculture) is a set of farming methods that has three main objectives with regards to climate change. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Firstly, they use adaptation methods to respond to the effects of climate change on agriculture (this also builds resilience to climate change ).
Climate change and agriculture are complexly related processes. In the United States , agriculture is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), behind the energy sector. [ 1 ] Direct GHG emissions from the agricultural sector account for 8.4% of total U.S. emissions, but the loss of soil organic carbon through soil erosion ...