Problems that need to be considered of conventional agriculture

Currently, there are different problems in agricultural ecosystems exposed by the crisis of agricultural models, called in different ways for example Moderna agriculture, conventional among other qualifiers. The methods used by conventional agriculture for food production can be counterproductive since it does not consider the environmental and social component and focuses only on productive yields at any cost, therefore, below, we will describe some of the problems that can arise in agroecosystems when certain techniques that generate imbalances are applied indiscriminately.

Let's start by pointing out that there may be a loss of fertility and soil erosion, this is caused by the excessive exploitation to which they are being subjected, the use of alarming doses of synthetic fertilizers, which has made us forget the fundamental role of organic contributions; it has led to an impoverishment of the lands in terms of their fertility, biology among other aspects of interest. Soil erosion can also be generated, which is a process caused by natural abiotic agents such as wind, precipitation, among others, which, acting on it, can also cause induced erosion generated by human activities interfering with the normal balance of the soil.

On the other hand, there are certain problems with the implementation of large tracts of land with a single type of crop, known as monoculture, this method of production weakens the ecosystem since, functional biodiversity is lost and favors the appearance of pest insects for that specific type of crop and that type of pests is controlled with synthetic pesticides, these pests sometimes generate resistances to these products and that is where there is the indiscriminate use of these products trying to control the pest that became resistant. For the sowing of these monocultures, the use of mechanical soil tillage is also exceeded, which has an impact on the conservation of the soil and its biological activity, which we have talked about in different articles.

In the same vein, in agroecosystems managed with conventional methods, there is the possibility of contamination of natural resources and the surrounding environment, due to the indiscriminate use of fertilizers and synthetic products, presenting problems in both surface and groundwater due to the accumulation of nitrites, which translates into a loss of potability and salinization of aquifers due to over exploitation of groundwater. All this problem extends to agricultural soils, since, if the waters are polluted, and we use them for irrigation, we will end up contaminating the agricultural soil as well.

Last but not least, the loss of the natural quality of food can also occur due to the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, although some products indicate that they are not toxic, some researchers point out that some products are initially non-toxic but later, after undergoing a series of transformations in the body, they are highly toxic to man, an example that we could find is the ingestion of nitrates, located especially in vegetables that are transformed into nitrites that carry great problems of toxicity.

Dear readers, these are some of the problems that the conventional agricultural production model can cause, certainly the aforementioned products can be used in agriculture, but not to have an excess of them, only when necessary, in the same production units or agroecosystems there are resources that can be used for the elaboration of fertilizers, we just need to know the natural elements with which we have and from there to be able to implement techniques and strategies that adapt to our needs. There is a lot of information about it, if we educate ourselves we can have a more profitable and safe agriculture.