AGRO ECOLOGICAL PRACTICES

1. TECHNIQUES
AND PRACTICES
OF
AGROECOLOGY
(OLD ERA)

2. AGRICULTURE TECHNIQUES AND
PRACTICES EXAMPLES FROM OLD ERA
i. AGROFORESTRY-GARDEN-FIELD CROP INTEGRATION
Large quantities of fruit pollen in the archaeological site in
the Colombian Amazon suggest fruit orchards or
agroforestry (Fernanda Herrera etall., 1958).
ii. IRRIGATION FARMIING
Prehistoric irrigation was widespread throughout the arid
lands of the Mediterranean and Middle East

3. CONT…
TERRACING
Some of the most impressive ancient terracing, in terms of size,
stone work, and extent (over 1 million ha) is in the Andes,
described by numerous writers.
DRAINED FIELDS
Remains of older and more extensive systems of raised fields
and canals have been found in the tropical lowlands of Asia and
Latin America

4. TECHNIQUES AND PRACTICES OF AGROECOLOGY
IN OLD ERA
1930s :All-purpose, rubber-tired
tractor with complementary
machinery popularized
1941-45 : Frozen foods popularized

5. 1942 : Spindle cottonpicker produced commercially.
1945 :Change from horses to tractors and increasing technological practices
characterize the second American agricultural revolution.
1951 :Organic chemicals called chelates were found to help protect plants
against certain metal deficiencies.
1954 :Number of tractors on farms exceeds the number horses and mules for
the first time.
Late 1950s :Anhydrous ammonia increasingly used as cheap source of
nitrogen, boosting yields.
1959 :Mechanical tomato harvester developed.

6. THE MARCH OF MACHINES
At every step in the process of growing crops, new machines were being developed
during the 1930s.
i. Plows: For the first time in the 30s, plows were mounted directly to the tractor
ii. Planters: Grain drills and corn planters got better at distributing seeds accurately
and quickly.
iii. Mechanical cultivators: It allowed farmers to drive cultivators through closely
spaced rows.
iv. Harvesters: In 1935, harvester that could be operated by just one man was
invented.

7. SOIL AND PEST MANAGEMENT
SUSTAINABILITY VS. COLLAPSE
CONCLUSION

8. *
For an agricultural system to be
sustained, several critical
components of the agro-ecosystem
must be controlled, including
water, soil depth and fertility, and
pests (weeds, insects, animals,
pathogens).

9. *
The use of fertilizer to maintain or improve
soil fertility may be nearly as old as
agriculture itself. Most important were
organic additives: human and animal
wastes, ash, garbage, crop residues, leaves,
compost, cleared weeds, seaweed, mulch,
urine, stable straw, ant-nest refuse, turf and
muck. Fish were also used for fertilizer on
the coast.

10. *
We can infer that crop losses were minimized by intercropping
numerous species and varieties in each field.
Pliny (420 BC) reported that amurca (liquid waste) of olives was applied
on plants to prevent blight. Greeks and Romans mentioned the use of
amurca to control plant diseases and insects and as a fertilizer;
Cato (200 BC) suggested burning sulfur to fumigate trees; ashes were
used to control plant disease in ancient India.
Biological control of diseases particularly included multicropping.
In China 300 BC, farmers used the yellow citrus ant to protect citrus
fruit. On the north coast of Peru, farmers today use lady bugs as a
predator to control cotton insects

11. *
*It is a mistake to believe that sustainable agriculture was a
universal characteristic of our ancestors. The following
example of sustained and failed cultivation systems in
prehistory under different circumstances.
*North China Over thousands of years China developed some of
the most sophisticated and sustainable methods of agriculture
in the world (King, 1911)" irrigation, terracing, padi, diking,
soil conservation, manuring. Nevertheless, massive failures
have occurred. In Shansi Province, deep, rich loess soils
experienced tremendous erosion following deforestation for
agriculture dating back 4000 years. This resulted in extensive
abandonment of crop land and depopulation. In addition,
enormous quantities of silt from this erosion flowed into the
Hwang Ho (Yellow River) causing siltation of canals and
flooding of entire regions of cropland, not to mention the
destruction of villages and loss of millions of lives
(Lowdermilk, 1953).

12. *
* William Clarke (1977) has delineated seven 'principles of permanence' in
traditional agriculture in the Pacific that allowed continuing (or sustainable)
cultivation for centuries or millennia:
Cultivation is not dependent on external energy or nutrient sources.
Agricultural systems are not self polluting.
Net energy yields are positive.
Only renewable resources are used.
Agricultural resources are spread throughout a community rather than being
concentrated.
Resources are considered as 'productive capital' to be preserved for future
generations.
Agriculture is based on polyculture and integration of tree and non-tree crops and
wild plants.
* These principles characterized much of prehistoric agriculture and made possible
a resiliency in the face of environmental, demographic and social change. Much
more research is needed, however, to understand more fully the bases for
prehistoric agricultural permanence.

13. THANK YOU