ANTHROP 1AA3 Quiz: podcast notes - agriculture.docx
11 Dec 2014
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Unit 1 environmental challenges for canadian agriculture. Land degradation included a number of processes that reduced capability of agricultural lands to make food. Soil erosion = soil removed from place of formation by gravitational water and wind processes; because of canada"s latitude, soil formation is slow; 0. 5 to 1 tonne of soil/hectare formed each year. Losses in excess 5 to 10 tonnes each year are associated to serious problems; losses have been found to largely exceed these values in the fraser river basin in bc and on. This is considered to be a tolerable risk when erosion occurs at a rate that is tolerable for crop production under common practices; As water evaporates, it leaves behind dissolved salts; salts accumulate overtime and may render the soil unusable. Can be made worse by cropping practices in which natural vegetation is removed; evaporation increases and concentrates salts on the surface.
