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Natural Resources Base, Input Management, and the Environment
Natural Resources Base, Input Management, and the Environment
Pages 65-116
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From page 65... ...
Areas of research concerned with use of the water resource for increased agricultural production include harvesting, reuse of water, water management, and water conservation practices. Next to land and water, the basic and perhaps most fundamental determinant of agricultural production is the influence of weather and climate.
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From page 66... ...
Research areas include the quantification of energy requirements in the food and fiber system, low-energy substitutes for high-energy fertilizer, and conservation of energy on the farm, primarily from alternative crop production techniques. Fertilizers have been a major factor in increasing yields over the past few years.
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From page 67... ...
2: Interpretation and Use of Soil Resource Data. Studies should be undertaken on land suitability for differing types of agricultural production, irrigation potential, and fertilization needs, including forage management.
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From page 68... ...
By recording in an orderly manner types of soil, and yields and responses to management practices, it is possible to identify areas having high, moderate, and low potential for producing food and forage. These are some of the basic data needed for determining priorities for land development and application of specific soil and water management practices including drainage, irrigation, and range and pasture improvement.
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From page 69... ...
This analysis should include potential utility, productivity, economic and energy costs, and environmental impacts of bringing into production lands not now cultivated but classed as potential croplands. Irrigation needs, potential water resources, and energy costs of potential irrigation and drainage projects should be considered along with soil fertility-capability interpretations based on soil properties and projections of potential responsiveness to soil and water management practices, including added plant nutrients and lime.
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From page 70... ...
. CONSERVATION OF SOIL RESOURCES Rationale As increased emphasis is placed on increased crop production to meet food needs, present cropland is likely to be cultivated more intensively, and new lands brought into crop production will frequently be more susceptible to water and wind/erosion than present cropland.
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From page 71... ...
This should be a team effort of producers, research and extension workers, and government agencies backed by specific funds and administrative support. A major research effort should be directed toward developing adapted food crops and land management practices to improve and sustain production on land where water is the limiting factor and where irrigation is not possible.
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From page 72... ...
Implementation Rangeland resource inventories and management strategies for rangelands are essential for use and maintenance of rangelands. The inventory should include all important physical features of the areas including the characteristics of the vegetation, and in sufficient detail for the determination of the potential carrying capacity of the different soils and for developing management strategies.
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From page 73... ...
5: Constraints on Water Management. Laws and regulations for management of water resources for agricultural production should be reviewed.
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From page 74... ...
Water supply improvement beyond the limits of the farm requires collective action, and therefore social and political considerations become important. As mentioned earlier, institutions have important effects on agricultural water management.
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From page 75... ...
In the final analysis good water management systems and practices are site-specific. Besides vigorous research, every effort needs to be made to bring the current state of knowledge to bear on at least the critical problems.
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From page 76... ...
Relating known genetic makeup of cultivars to pertinent environmental variables will markedly improve the ease with which technology can be transferred from one region or country to another. SOIL WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Emphasis should be placed on developing technologies that involve total agricultural water management aimed at providing delivery of water to the crop root zone when it is needed by the crop, or in removing water from the root zone when it is in excess.
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From page 77... ...
In addition to the relation of water quality and soil salinity to crop yields, the water management region has an important effect on the quality of return flows and the amount of salts returned to river systems. There is strong experimental and theoretical basis for the possibility of precipitating salts in the soil profile and thus rendering them harmless to crops.
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From page 78... ...
in the water supply under poor management conditions. On the other hand, with optimal conditions, economic crops may be grown with water supply concentrations as high as 5,000 to 6,000 ppm.
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From page 79... ...
Many of these areas are grazed, and information on climate and weather variability is needed to design management strategies for grazing. TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT FOR WATER SUPPLIES Efficient water management on the farm may often be impaired or rendered useless because of conditions beyond the farm boundary.
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From page 80... ...
. Finally, weather modification by cloud seeding to enhance precipitation could enhance water supplies by adding soil moisture and increasing runoff.
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From page 81... ...
Organizations for delivering water and their rules, regulations, and pricing arrangements represent another major class of institutions whose operations have significant bearing on efficient management of water supplies. Other important examples include the process of public planning and decision making with regard to water systems and related land use, the structure and role of federal and state agencies, and the water market.
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From page 82... ...
(1973) Research Needs for on-Farm Water Management.
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From page 83... ...
Estimates generally indicate that 30 to 40 percent of the increased agricultural production in this country during recent years is directly attributable to increased use of fertilizer. In developing countries, where soils are less fertile, fertilizers can be even more important, expecially on crops of high yield potential.
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From page 84... ...
Recommendations 1 and 2 deal specifically with this. Second, shortages of raw materials needed in fertilizer manufacture have developed, particularly natural gas for ammonia synthesis (see Recommendations 3 and 4)
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From page 85... ...
Field experiments, coordinated with soil tests, need to be conducted to determine whether phosphate and potash use can be safely reduced without endangering crop yields and, if so, how much and under what conditions. Considerable fertilizer might be saved for use elsewhere, besides decreasing fertilizer costs to the farmer.
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From page 86... ...
coals is expected to be expensive and may require up to 10 years. With the current and pending situation on natural gas and petroleum-derived feedstocks worldwide, there is no choice but to go to coal.
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From page 87... ...
Implementation There is some research in this area contemplated by TVA and the International Fertilizer Development Center. This is a high priority problem, and chances for its solution are good.
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From page 88... ...
3: Weather Modification. Research should be intensified to determine the necessary atmospheric properties for rainfall augmentation and hail suppression on agricultural and forest lands.
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From page 89... ...
5. The design and operation of water management systems depends on proper interpretations of short-range weather outlooks.
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From page 90... ...
The program would reduce the hazards of pollution by promoting a proper design of pest management and hydrologic systems. Implementation A system for specialized weather services for agriculture is required to increase production, improve efficiency, and limit environmental hazards.
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From page 91... ...
The year-to-year and seasonal variations in rainfall provide a major impact on plant growth and development. Implementation The effects of fluctuating climate and weather on agricultural production should be determined.
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From page 92... ...
The return from the development of a dependable cloud seeding technology for rain augmentation and/or hail abatement will be great. The benefits were enumerated in the report on "A National Program of Research for Weather Modification" of the joint Task Force of the USDA and State Universities and Land Grant Colleges released in 1968.
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From page 93... ...
A National Program of Research for Weather Modification. Prepared by a joint task force of the U.S.
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From page 94... ...
The quantification of the forms of energy used by the major operations of the system would permit identification of the substitutability of more abundant forms of energy for the nonrenewable short supply energy forms currently being used. The characterization of the energy use would help to identify relationships between energy inputs and the quantity and nutritive values of the outputs, thereby providing opportunities to conserve energy and develop alternative practices.
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From page 95... ...
, and more than half of the coal reserves are estimated to be depleted about the year 2100 -- shortly before the world reaches its projected maximum population density in the year 2135. While the recently expanded efforts to find new reserves of petroleum fuels and to develop new energy technologies to permit use of more abundant forms of energy will help to alleviate the short supply of energy, opportunities exist for obtaining information to provide a basis for: assessing the impact of national policies on the food production system; determining the effects of conservation and/or alternative practices on energy use; and establishing long-range research priorities with the greatest potential for increasing the effective use of energy resources for food production.
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From page 97... ...
of livestock manure that is not now being used in crop production. Also a significant amount (as much as 50 percent)
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From page 98... ...
Table 1 - Energy inputs in corn production (fully mechanized in the USA) (revised after Pimentel et al., 1973)
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From page 99... ...
In addition to the nutrients manure adds to the soil, it adds organic matter which increases the number of beneficial bacteria and fungi in the soil, makes plowing easier, improves the water-holding and percolation capacity of soil, reduces soil erosion, and improves the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the soil. The major costs of using manure for crop production are hauling and spreading.
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From page 100... ...
The new sewage treatment plants that have installed treatment procedures for the removal of N and P offer the potential of returning these two valuable fertilizer elements to agriculture. Implementation Steps for implementing research on substitutes for nitrogen fertilizers include: (a)
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From page 101... ...
agricultural production. A viable alternative for reducing the fuel consumption would be to use machinery precisely scaled for a given job and operate it at efficient speeds.
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From page 102... ...
(1973) Comparative Efficiency of Energy Use in Crop Production.
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From page 103... ...
Paper presented at the 141st annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the Symposium - Food, Population and the Environment. Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Article No.
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From page 104... ...
Interdisciplinary teams should be developed of crop protection, plant, and animal scientists to set up crop and livestock production systems which include integrated pest management. 3: Pest Resistant Crops and Livestock.
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From page 105... ...
Pesticide misuse and applicator intoxication are serious problems. Nevertheless, the safe use of pesticides remains essential to effective plant and animal protection and is an important component of integrated pest management systems.
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From page 106... ...
More comprehensive analyses of deficiencies in crop protection and recommendations for improved integrated pest management procedures can be found in the NRC/NAS report, "Pest Control: An Assessment of Present and Alternative Technologies" (NAS, in press) and in other studies on integrated pest management.
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From page 107... ...
Agricultural Production and Research.) Otherwise, food production may be disastrously disrupted as has happened many times in history prior to the development of modern protection technology.
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From page 108... ...
6. Make a cost/benefit analysis of regulations for pesticide and other pest management tactics, such as resistant crop varieties and quarantines.
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From page 109... ...
Some pest management practices may adversely affect production or be incompatible with existing production systems. Thus, there is a great need to develop a total systems approach to management of crop and livestock agroecosystems which include compatible and effective integrated pest management components.
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From page 110... ...
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL Rationale Regulation of pest organisms by their natural enemies is of major importance in pest management. Increased funding, improved coordination of personnel and facilities at the exportation, importation-propagation and colonization-evaluation levels, and biological control approaches must be expanded to include pests other than insects and weeds (for example, plant pathogens)
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From page 111... ...
INNOVATIVE METHODS Rationale Opportunities for improved integrated pest management have been enhanced by recent identification of several powerful natural and synthetic attractants. The major uses of insect attractants include detection, monitoring for population densities, direct control by poison baits, masstrapping or inhibition of premating behavior.
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From page 112... ...
3. Establish interdisciplinary teams of specialists to develop and demonstrate principles for assuring the behavioral adequacy of mass reared insects used to suppress pest populations by genetic methods or by parasitism.
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From page 113... ...
Glass, Edward H., coordinator (1975) Integrated Pest Management: Rationale, Potential Needs, and Implementation.
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From page 114... ...
Training in biological and physical sciences as well as in agricultural production techniques is required for technicians in agricultural production. While there are several excellent examples of curricular and course changes in agriculture and renewable resources, a systematic review at the national level of the educational resource base and approaches to meet the needs is urgently required.
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From page 115... ...
It includes education at the degree level whether or not at recognized schools and colleges of agriculture and renewable resources if such education purports to prepare students for professional careers in these fields.
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From page 116... ...
This can be most readily accomplished by implementation of a long-term program of support for graduate education in the sciences that are basic to agricultural production. Not only would such programs help the U.S.
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