What aspects should we consider in agriculture/opinion

Agriculture is one of the most important economic activities in many countries of the world and in others, although it is not a main economic activity, they are dedicated to producing some specific crops. To establish or plant crops on a large scale, large areas of land are needed, such areas are usually wooded spaces where a great diversity of plants and fauna were found, so logically if we are going to use those spaces to produce food, we must know what the characteristics of the ecosystem are, which will allow us to work in them efficiently without negatively altering these spaces and their surroundings.

Taking into account the aforementioned, agricultural activity became a very profitable business as the number of planted land areas increased over the years, therefore, it was necessary to be more efficient in terms of management in order to produce crops. With the arrival of the industrial Revolution between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, mass production strategies began to be implemented with the intention of managing crops and that their production was as fast as possible not only to satisfy the food needs of the population but also to increase the economic capital of a handful of companies.

In this same order of ideas, in agriculture for those who studied this beautiful career we were taught on many occasions pure cooking recipes, we call it that because for any problem with pests, diseases among others there is a miraculous synthetic product, which will solve the problem momentarily but there is a high probability that in the medium and long term the same problem will remain but now adding other problems such as the decrease in biodiversity that has an important function in said ecosystem.

To these synthetic products are added the elaboration of agricultural implements and machinery ideal for tillage of the soil, with which many soils have been worked, but in an indiscriminate way. As technicians we can not recommend that a certain number of passes of these implements are made on the ground but we are in the place where the tillage is required, since, ecosystems vary from one place to another and I can not recommend the same treatments for all farms since, the conditions can vary significantly from one place to another, another technology that was introduced into the agricultural market were genetically modified crops, which are resistant to certain agents such as pest diseases and even to certain synthetic products applied for weed control, these modifications according to certain reports can become harmful to human health.

Is all this technology necessary to produce food? well, some point out that it is necessary due to the increase in human population and food security, all these arguments are valid, but because all these efforts are not directed at implementing alternatives that are in line with ecosystems and that we do not abuse natural resources, because in the end, if we see farms as a company these are ecological companies because all the components that make up it must be considered in order to carry out effective management, those components are the soil, plants, animals, water, climate and from there start to establish strategies according to the conditions that each region has.

To give an example, suppose that in a production unit there is a species of plant that we consider undesirable, we should study that species to know to which conditions it adapts instead of applying indiscriminately and hastily a synthetic product that can increase cost and alter the ecosystem, following the same example, if we observe that the plant adapts to areas where there is a lot of humidity, it would be convenient to try some drainage method to evaluate if by decreasing the humidity the species begins to control its appearance, let's remember that they are organisms themselves that have needs.

Dear readers, for us in agrotechnics agriculture is closely associated with ecology, because for a crop to express its best yields it must be in the best space where all the surrounding conditions are favorable and the ideal is that these conditions are maintained over time, that is to say that they are sustainable, for this, we must reduce external elements or make rational use of them, because in our agricultural units there will always be resources that can be beneficial for any agronomic activity (fertilization, pest, disease, weed control) that we perform.