When I personally visit other farms and speak with the farmers and sometimes agronomists, most of the times I get told that the land is 'old and has been cultivated for several years', and so is not productive as it used to be. Therefore the solution should be to move to a new fertile land to farm.
In my education in agronomy I learnt that the capital for a farmer is not the money that is kept in the bank, but the fertility of his soil maintained through generations of farmers.
I want to remind what E. WALTER RUSSEL wrote in his work Soil Conditions and Plant Growth on which agricultural sciences is based on.
And I also suggest that all agronomists should read at least once in their lifetime.
The General Priciples of Soil Management
A good system of agriculture is required to produce as much food, either human or farm stock as possible from the land at a reasonable cost without imparing its fertility. A farmer should always aim to leave the land in at least as productive a condition as when he acquired it. A good system of management must therefore ensure that the nutrient status of the soil is maintained; that all factors directly harmful to plant growth such as high acidity , high alkalinity, or poor drainage are absent; that the land only grows the crops desired and not unwanted ones, that is, that weeds are kept under control; and that the soil particles themselves remain in place and neither washed nor blown away.
The nutrient status of the soil is now very largely under the direct control of the farmer.
In my education in agronomy I learnt that the capital for a farmer is not the money that is kept in the bank, but the fertility of his soil maintained through generations of farmers.
I want to remind what E. WALTER RUSSEL wrote in his work Soil Conditions and Plant Growth on which agricultural sciences is based on.
And I also suggest that all agronomists should read at least once in their lifetime.
The General Priciples of Soil Management
A good system of agriculture is required to produce as much food, either human or farm stock as possible from the land at a reasonable cost without imparing its fertility. A farmer should always aim to leave the land in at least as productive a condition as when he acquired it. A good system of management must therefore ensure that the nutrient status of the soil is maintained; that all factors directly harmful to plant growth such as high acidity , high alkalinity, or poor drainage are absent; that the land only grows the crops desired and not unwanted ones, that is, that weeds are kept under control; and that the soil particles themselves remain in place and neither washed nor blown away.
The nutrient status of the soil is now very largely under the direct control of the farmer.