Tillage

2.1.1 Ecology, production, labor and land Originally, cocoa was mainly cultivated in the tropical rainforests in South America. Once established in Ghana, cocoa production expanded rapidly in Africa and by the mid 1920s, WCA has become the main producer. Cocoa grows naturally in tropical rain forests. This habitat provides heavy shade and rainfall, uniform temperature and constant relative humidity and is typically only found within 10º of the equator. There are basically three group types of…

Organic farming reduces fossil fuel usage and these methods promote the conservation of water and soil and reduce pollution ("Organic Food Movement Gains Prominence."). The Soil and Water Conservation Society says that herbicide-based, low- and no-tillage cropping systems are the most sustainable ever…

Traditional techniques for dryland farming are receiving a second look by many farmers 1. “farming on nonirrigated land with little rainfall that relies on moisture-conserving tillage and drought-resistant crops” (Merriam) 2. The harvesting of water for agriculture can occur in many different ways, but they are all dependent on water moving down hill into catchments, from traditional techniques of building stone or mud walls to…

As I stared into the blinding spotlight, about to recite the paragraph that I had ingrained in my memory, I began to recall the beginning of my journey, and the ascent of my competitive public speaking career. … The bus was humid and muggy as I hunched over the “cheat sheet” Mr. Garner had given me to memorize a month before. However, being the mindful person I am, I decided to start the memorization process the night before. I poured over the paragraph I had been allocated over and over,…

Genetically modified (GM) foods have the potential to improve human health in the developing world. The genetic modification of food is a bioethics issue, due to the concerns raised when a foods physiognomies are altered to benefit the human race. Despite this, a food’s characteristics can be GM to become a vehicle for vaccines and a higher vitamin content, slowing the spread of diseases and thus improving human health. Furthermore, plants that are GM to be pest-resistant will cause a decrease…

Soil erosion is a natural occurance and affects all landforms. It is the wear and tear of the topsoil layer, caused by natural forces such as water, wind, or even farming activities like tillage. Topsoil that are high in organic materials, fertility, and soil life, is removed from its original location, moved elsewhere by nature’s forces, and either builds up over time, or fills in drainage channels. This reduces cropland productivity and…

2.7. Soil erosion modeling For this study a model-based approach was used to assess soil erosion risk. The well-known Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978) was used because it is one of the least data demanding erosion models that have been developed and it has been applied widely at different scales. The model is designed to estimate long-term annual erosion rates of agricultural fields. The USLE model as described in Equation 1 was used to predict erosion of each 100…

Hence, organic farming system that advocates raising diverse crops in the same piece of land with adoption of environment friendly methods to improve soil fertility, including crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, and application of compost can be an ideal model of sustainable agriculture intensification (World Bank, 2006) for these homestead farms. After all, environmental sustainability is the principal objective of the promoters of organic farming (Rigby…

Introduction El Salvador locates in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It has a tropical and a subtropical climate including a dry season from November to April and a rainy season from May to October. According to World Development Indicators, there were 29.6% of households living in poverty in 2013 (World Development Indicators, 2015). This report focus on smallholder farms, which found at high altitudes in the mountainous regions of the country and grow crops…

cabs. They were white and square. Some had heaters and had one back window and a side window. Most came with 38 inch tires, but some came with 34 inch tires. International harvester marketing technique was that the tractor was large enough to do tillage but cheaper to buy and run than the next size up the 1206. The diesel was good on fuel with max pulling it would use 6.4 gallons and hour while the gas less efferent using 7.4 gallons per…