Impact of Agriculture on Soil Degradation II

Croatian agriculture has a small impact on the country’s economy (around 4% of the Croatian Gross Domestic Product), but agricultural activities affect agricultural land and reduce quality and productivity. The types of land degradation are not distributed equally in the territory, considering an environmental diversity between the Mediterranean, Mountain and Continental parts of Croatia, different pedological and geomorphological conditions, and cropping and management systems. In Croatia, the most widespread degradation problems are soil erosion by water and soil compaction. Together with soil salinity and soil contamination, these processes decrease soil ability to provide ecosystem services in quantity and quality. Soil compaction and erosion by water present the greatest challenge for soil protection, considering the impact of future climate change conditions. Croatia still has not established comprehensive monitoring of the soils. Thus, currently, the less visible degradation processes in Croatia (microplastics, metal contamination) are not recognized as an important threat to soil quality and productivity. This chapter summarizes the occurrence, distribution, and causes of various physical and chemical soil degradation processes and national reclamation and conservation practices.

Soil degradation has been identified as a major threat to the productivity of agricultural land. In the Czech Republic, soils are threatened primarily by water and wind erosion, but compaction, loss of organic matter, loss of soil structure stability, pollution and over-fertilization, loss of biodiversity, and soil sealing are also major concerns. Poor soil health results in many off-site effects such as surface water siltation, groundwater pollution, loss of biodiversity in the countryside, and decreasing crop yields. The Czech agricultural landscape is characterized by large fields with a very small number of interrupting elements such as furrows, paths, or balks and the crop structure is rather uniform. The state has a history of land collectivization which first took place during the twentieth century. The ongoing intensive and unsustainable industrial farming, which is often focused more on high yields of certain economically valuable crops rather than the environment, speeds up soil degradation. These problems are fortunately recognized by the stakeholders, legal authorities, and the public. There has been significant debate on sustainable landscape management and agricultural practices, and many positive examples already exist in the Czech Republic.

Agricultural soil degradation is a global phenomenon that is expected to increase in the future due to agricultural intensification and climate change. In Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), after the Soviet Union fall, the impacts of agriculture on the ecosystems decreased. However, soil compaction, erosion, pollution and acidification are critical threats that hurt the environment. Unsustainable practices are responsible for increasing compaction, erosion, pollution and acidification. Often, they have dramatic impacts on water resources. The most important is the increased eutrophication in lakes and coastal areas. Nowadays, the Baltic sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world. Therefore, it is essential to halt the agriculture intensification in Baltic countries and establish more sustainable practices to reverse this trend. This book chapter aims to study the most important impacts of agriculture practices on soil degradation in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Germany is a densely populated and highly developed country with multiple threats on soils still causing their degradation. Soil erosion by wind and water has been the most important process in Germany, which has been studied since the end of the nineteenth century. Soil erosion starts with the Neolithic Revolution. But erosion rates were in general low, even during Roman times. They increased during medieval times due to the strong expansion of agriculture and deforestation. Nowadays, at least 19% of Germany’s agricultural land is affected by very high soil erosion, which reaches values higher than tolerable. Intensification of agriculture and the use of heavy machinery have led to this substantial increase in the most evident and widespread soil degradation process. Soil erosion by wind is mainly found in northern Germany and is the result of the interaction of flat topography, sandy to loamy soils, and large agricultural fields.

In modern times additional threats contribute to soil degradation. Pollution by pesticides or heavy metals is ubiquitous and endangers soil health and agricultural land use. Microplastics are reaching the soils by multiple pathways. The main problems here are the lack of knowledge on a methodology for quantification and on the effect of microplastics in soils. Additionally, one of the major threats to German soils is the destruction by sealing of settlements and infrastructure. Despite having knowledge of soil, the different threats on soils, the pressure on them, and the dynamics of degradation are still high on Germany’s agricultural soils.

Agricultural land degradation is a global problem affecting food production and other ecosystem services worldwide such as water regulation. It is driven by unsustainable land use and management practices (e.g. intensive tillage, overuse of agrochemicals) and can be aggravated by future climate change. Land degradation is particularly problematic in arid and semi-arid areas of southern Europe, and distinct soil degradation processes impair agricultural areas in Portugal and Greece. This chapter aims to improve understanding of various degradation processes affecting agricultural land, including soil erosion, compaction, contamination, and salinity and sodicity. It summarises the scientific literature on the current status of these degradation processes in agricultural areas of Portugal and Greece and their main causes and consequences. Moreover, it provides examples of best management practices implemented to mitigate agricultural land degradation. Some degradation processes are relatively well documented (e.g. erosion), while knowledge of the spatial extent of others such as soil compaction is still limited. A better understanding of soil degradation processes and of the counter-impacts of improved agricultural management practices is critical to support decision-making and ensure long-term fertility and productivity, thereby maintaining the sustainability of agriculture.

Soil degradation is a serious phenomenon both in Hungary and worldwide. Although it may be induced by natural causes, human activity, especially in the past two centuries has contributed more significantly to soil degradation. There are many known consequences of soil degradation. Although in the short-term moderating the rate of deterioration can be acceptable, the impacts of climate change on soil degradation seem to be a real hindering factor to crop production in the longer term. In Hungary, soil compaction, water and wind erosion, and water logging may present difficulties in the future. Based on negative experiences in crop production in dry and wet seasons, soil management should be used to prevent or alleviate soil compaction. Landslides, soil contamination, salinity, acidification, and agrochemical use are likely to be kept within limits by complying with national and EU regulatory requirements. Limiting soil sealing will be however a difficult issue in the future.

Iceland is located just south of the Arctic Circle. Its cold climate, volcanic origin, erodible soils, and relative isolation make it very sensitive to human impact. Humans arrived in Iceland ~1,150 years ago, bringing with them their pastoral ways of life, which had large impacts on Iceland’s subarctic ecosystems. The relatively short history of human land use and the good documentation of this period provide a unique opportunity to study the drivers of land degradation related to human land use practices and how the interactions between society, economy, and the natural environment have changed over time. Centuries of agricultural use in Iceland under marginal natural conditions have caused severe and large-scale land degradation, which is a main environmental concern still today. A framework model for land condition response in Iceland (Ice-LaCoRe) helps separate the underlying reasons, drivers, processes, states, and consequences of land degradation, where decoupling mechanisms disrupt the cycle and favour inaction in dealing with the poor state of the land. Recognition of the poor state of Icelandic ecosystems and the identification of such decoupling mechanisms is a critical step to the effective implementation of sustainable land uses and to prevent further land degradation.

We present an updated state of the art about the land degradation in the Italian agriculture. After preliminary outlines about the main characteristics of the Italian climate and soils, we analyse the risks of desertification, erosion, salinization, sealing/compaction, contamination and organic matter reduction of soils. Minor factors of soil degradation (overgrazing, forest fires, pollution due to microplastics and agrochemicals) are also discussed. This review shows that, in the Italian agricultural soils, the rates of sealing, compaction and organic matter decline are close to the values recorded in several European countries. Soil erosion and landslides are the major degradation factors in steeper agricultural areas of the mid mountains and hills, and particularly in the internal areas of Southern Italy. High erosion rates are the main reason of reductions in soil organic matter, which worsens soil fertility and induces biodiversity loss. Unsuitable soil management and unsustainable agricultural exploitation aggravate these land degradation factors. In contrast, natural areas have been subjected to severe environmental regulations (e.g. the national and regional parks) for many years, and these environments are not particularly vulnerable. The final considerations provide insight regarding the possible countermeasures to limit the land degradation rates in the affected areas and ensure soil conservation in the other zones.

Slovenia is among the European countries with poorer natural farming conditions, which are further challenged by several degradation processes. Among them agricultural land is primarily threatened by soil sealing, contamination, and erosion. The disregard for agricultural land and soil as an important natural resource keeps coming to the fore in siting major infrastructure and commercial structures. Most soil on agricultural land is not polluted, but nonetheless, some areas are contaminated with certain inorganic pollutants (e.g., cadmium, lead, arsenic, and copper) and organic pollutants (e.g., pesticides). Agricultural land is also at risk of soil erosion by water and wind.

Soil degradation is a global problem and in Spain is especially important because of its climatic, geographical, and socioeconomic particularities. A large surface of the Spanish territory is occupied by agricultural activities, constituting one of the main land’s uses due to its importance for the country’s economy. Land use linked to agriculture, livestock, and forestry has been present historically, which has generated an impact on the soil that continues today because of the intensification of agricultural activities and inadequate soil management. This chapter brings combined the information on the current state of knowledge of soil degradation in Spain caused by agricultural activities. First, the state of the climate and the main existing soil types are contextualized. Subsequently, in different sections, a review of the main factors causing soil degradation, such as soil erosion, overgrazing, soil contamination, salinization, agrochemical use, and the presence of microplastics is given. The deficit of available information on the degradation rates of Spanish agricultural soils has been highlighted and the processes of desertification have become evident, predicting a more pronounced acceleration of degradation with fatal consequences for these soils. Likewise, the several changes in soil use have caused large areas to be affected by salinity, owing to the use of poor-quality irrigation water and the overexploitation of aquifers and the excessive application of agrochemicals, and soil contamination, have resulted in a reduction in fertility, and have modified the physical, chemical, and biological soil properties. In view of the above, adequate land management and land-use planning is necessary to improve the state of Spanish soils, as well as the remediation of existing degradation problems and the transformation of agricultural productive activities to sustainability. It is essential to comply with existing policies strictly and rapidly and implement adequate management aimed at mitigating their degradation, as their current and future state could compromise the provision of recourses and services by Spanish agricultural ecosystems, exceeding their resilience capacity and implying a negative impact on food production and human health.

The current status of agricultural soils in Sweden is dominated by a tendency of land abandonment in some areas vs. intensification which leads to soil degradation in other areas, like the south of the country. Overgrazing, slash-and-burn agricultural practices or salinization is currently not a problem for Swedish agriculture. On the other hand, soil compaction and erosion represent problems, mostly in some areas of Sweden. Agricultural soils are also exposed to different soil contaminants, pesticides and microplastics which can have negative or unclear effects in the soil ecosystem.

The degradation of the arable soils is one of the critical issues for Ukraine’s agriculture production. The agricultural area covers 19 million hectares within the Steppe zone, 16.9 million hectares within the Forest-Steppe zone and 5.6 million hectares in the Forest zone. The most important soils in Ukraine are chernozems, phaeozems and albeluvisols. This chapter aims to study the factors affecting Ukraine’s agricultural soil degradation. The physical degradation of the Ukraine lands is related to excessive ploughing, poor balance of nutrients, insufficient application of organic matter, mineral fertilisers, ameliorants and pollution. Many economically valuable crops are growing without reliable erosion protection measurements application. The area affected by the radioactive elements in Ukraine is about 461.7 thousand hectares. Overgrazing, slash-and-burn agriculture are not typical in Ukraine. The urgent needs for Ukraine are innovation and investments in strengthening the material and technical base of the agricultural sector.