I spoke to a family member about why alternative methods to traditional intensive agriculture need to be explored in order to preserve the land. I consider this an important issue as traditional intensive agriculture may contribute to desertification and the socioeconomic consequences of this phenomenon. Given that I've visited the fields cultivated by my grandparents and have observed that they were vast swathes of rice monoculture, I thought this would have been a concern that my family would need to listen to. I told this family member that by replacing the native plants with crops, the soil becomes less stable as the shallower roots of the crops would not be able to retain the soil as well as the native plants. Not only does the soil become unstable and erode over time, the soil that does remain eventually becomes deprived of its nutrients since crops are constantly being grown in high density. I told them that this makes deserts expand more easily and this could bring problems to the economy, public health and biodiversity as the spreading of deserts destroy crops, damage buildings, reduce shade and thereby increasing risk of heatstroke, and destroys viable habitats for all kinds of organisms. I thought that with all the risks associated with traditional intensive agriculture, the family member would have agreed that we need a better farming system to prevent the aggressive spread of deserts, but they did not. They agreed with most of the aspects of the conversation, but also pointed out how alternatives to traditional intensive agriculture could potentially reduce crop yield. According to them, reduced crop yield has two problematic elements. First, given that farmers heavily depend on crops for income, if crop yield were to be even reduced by, for example, 10%, then the farmer with that yield would lose a significant portion of their income. The second problem was that food is always a high-demand resource, thus if crop yield was to be reduced, then many people may starve given the increased difficulty of procuring food. Thus, ultimately, we concluded together that despite the system needing change, we can't exactly afford to be burdened with the potential consequences of such changes. Although, this was not how I expected this discussion to go, I learned to consider the perspectives of other parties thanks to the concerns outlined by the family member.
A monoculture rice field in China. Credit: Colin W (Wikimedia Commons) Retrieved on October 5, 2023 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terrace_Rice_Fields,_Yunan_China_-_panoramio.jpg