Basic Knowledge in Agriculture #107

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Let's picture a piece of land which is been cultivated every year without rest. As time goes on, the land becomes unproductive as it barely give the harvest it usually gives. At that point, what would you do? One of the likely answers I'll get is leaving the farmland for sometime to recover it's lost nutrients. Another question emerge which is "what if this was your only farmland and your dependency on life support was on this farmland?" Then, I'm happy to announce that there's a smart way of recovering lost nutrients which is regenerative agriculture. Let's talk about it.

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Regenerative agriculture is a form of agriculture where a famer employs strategies to improve a farmland over time. The area of improvement is mostly the topsoil generation, improved biodiversity and water cycle, etc. From what I mentioned earlier in the case of a farmer who has only one farmland, this remains the best option. It is because shift fallowing takes time with no agricultural activities done. But regenerative agriculture gives the farmer an opportunity to farm while improving his farmland.
Someone might ask how it works and I'll explain it here. The farm is continually worked on but smart strategies are applied.

• Instead of depleting the land, the farm is used with the sole aim of improving it.
• Cover crops are planted to cover the soil surface and then fix nitrogen to the soil.
• Applying manure and high quality compost to increase microbial activities in the soil.
• Planting trees and shrubs at strategic position to act as wind break. It also improves microclimate and create deep root channel for nutrient cycling.

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Regenerative agriculture has it's advantages which I'll share it here:

• Enhanced Nutrient Cycling: this form of agriculture helps to increase soil nutrients at a lower cost. An example of this is cover crops providing nitrogen at a low cost to the soil.
• Improved water movement in the soil: It is important to note that any soil which is rich in organic matters will acts like a sponge. Water holding capacity will be increased as plants will benefit more.

I invite @bossj23, @pandora2010 and @josepha to this contest.