Soil

30cm of top soil stores 60% of carbon released. Soil carbon sequestration is a process in which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil carbon pool.This process is primarily mediated by plants through photosynthesis, with carbon stored in the form of SOC. We will try to distinguish the relationships that are present in the eco-system. We wouldmlke to explore the three dimensionality of fragile relationships that are imperative for the existance of the human life.

Soil

Organic matter is a key component of soil that affects its physical, chemical, and biological properties, contributing greatly to its proper functioning on which human societies depend. Benefits of soil organic matter (SOM) include improvement of soil quality through increased retention of water and nutrients, resulting in greater productivity of plants in natural environments and agricultural settings.

Soil Cover

Plants use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, the process whereby the plant converts the energy from the sun into a chemical carbohydrate molecule. Plants use this carbon chemical to grow. As a “trap crop”, a cover crop will store nutrients from manure, mineralized organic nitrogen or underutilized fertilizer until the following years' crop can utilize them, reducing nutrient runoff and leaching

Atmosphere

A number of natural and man-made mechanisms can affect the global energy balance and force changes in Earth's climate. Greenhouse gases are one such mechanism. Greenhouse gases absorb and emit some of the outgoing energy radiated from Earth's surface, causing that heat to be retained in the lower atmosphere.

Source: bloghubspot.com

Industrial Agriculture practices has caused intense soil erosion

Forests and plants protect
the soil from
erosion and degradation

But every year
13 million hectares of forests
are cut down

Fields are cultivated
inadequately added to that
are monocultures and
cultivation on slopes

These fields are left
fallow in the winter
leading to intense soil loss

GHG Emissions due to Agriculture

Production of food has become so isolated and factory like that people have destroyed ecosystems and basic relationships between environmental elements which has led to a dependence on fertilizers and creating artificial environments to get production flowing.

Almost half the land that can support plant life on Earth has been converted to croplands, pastures and rangelands, soils have actually lost 50 to 70 percent of the carbon they once held.
This has contributed about a quarter of all the manmade global greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet. We lose a lot of our soil organic matter to agricultural practices rendering the topsoil lifeless. The rapid increase in production of food products has led to an increase in the emission of GHGs.
The future of our food production depends on how we handle our soil today. With new technologies emerging and added knowledge of new way of production, agriculture in the UK needs a major reform to a more sustainable and permanent form of food production.



What's happening in the UK

History of Agriculture in the UK

The history of Agriculture in the UK dates back to 5000 BC, where the agriculture techniques were based on domestic production of food through agriculture employing basic manual techniques. Agriculture evolved into a more structured production practice with landownership being introduced in the 11th century with the Domesday Book forming the first records of landownership.

The year 1760 marks the Industrial revolution in the UK and the direct implication of which was reflected in the Agriculture industry as well. With machines being introduced, manual labour was decreased and more production could be achieved.

This marked a big change in the agriculture industry as it was now reaching it’s potential to produce more and require less labour. A nominal increase in parcel sizes can be seen from 40m to as long as 100m long. The traditional practices of maintaining hedgerows and soil conserving practices were taken over with monoculture practices to meet food production required for the increasing population. Agriculture in the UK was mostly administered under CAP with commissions being provided based on the size of the agriculture land owned with no extra efforts to save our soil or the environmental affects of intensive agriculture. With Brexit, UK enters a new territory of responsibility of reforms in the Agriculture industry with commission of the new Agriculture bill regarding soil conservation and environmental issues surrounding the same.

SOIL TYPOLOGIES- UK

Soil typologies in UK can varries from clay, coarse, fine, gravel, medium, mud, sand, silt, and peaty. Most dominant soil type in UK is the peaty, mud, and sand.

East england have many soil typology most dominant ones are the peaty and mud beacuse there is an intensive MODE of farming and erosion.

We will be analysing how changing from high carbon agricultre to low will impact soil typology in East England.

Source: naeiUK.com