Thursday, September 14, 2017

Intercropping in China

Farming on the steep hills of China can be a challenge and soil erosion is a huge concern. This week we take a closer look at some research to protect the soil while increasing profits at the same time in China. We encourage you to look at the linked article and utilize the discussion points below to guide the conversations in your classrooms and communities around the globe.

Helping Chinese Farmers Tackle Erosion

Discussion Points

  • Imagine someone approaches you on the street and has no idea what intercropping is. Explain it to them in a couple sentences.
  • What benefits where found utilizing intercropping in China? 
  • Of all the benefits listed which do you feel was the most important and why?
  • Soil erosion continues to be an issue in China and around the world. What are additional ways that erosion can be reduced in China and globally? Explain how/why your recommendations would be successful.
**Ag Educators: Take the last point a step farther and have students create a plan to reduce erosion in China and present to the class.

30 comments:

Rose Ramirez said...

In a way to improve economic and environmental stability in southwest China. They have been inter cropping instead of just doing one plant. Throughout the experiment they have found that inter cropping is more beneficial to the farmers. With inter cropping there is less erosion and an improved economic return.

Anonymous said...

Its good that they got an idea of what to do about the erosion problem so now they can perfect it and spread it to the rest of china/ the world

Anonymous said...

Erosion is one of the biggest part that is affecting the way plants grow. In China they used chili and setaria with corn which help reduce the erosion of the plants. It also is a new technology to grow plants better and be able to keep them alive.

Unknown said...

Seeing that erosion is a huge problem in China intercropping seems very beneficial to both the land for erosion control and also gives the farmers an economic boost by having more than one crop therefore It seems that most farmers would be willing to incorporate this method into their fields.

Unknown said...

This new method of farming would be a great thing for china, Not only would this increase the income for farmers but it would increase the life span of farmers in China due to it decreasing soil erosion. If things keep going the way there going now south china could lose up the the entire state of California in soil erosion which would be catastrophic to farmers in southern china. So i thing that this new method of corn and chili peppers will be adopted by farmers there soon

Anonymous said...

Inter cropping is the idea that when farmers have crops growing on steep hill that frequently experience problems, they plant there main crop corn in the example but also plant another sort of crop or grass in the rows between the corn to help stabilize the crop. This is very big in China due to the terrain and erosion they experience every year. Overall inter cropping sounds like a very beneficial procedure they conduct in China due to the fact that it solves there problems in the field which causes them to make more money from the crops being produced.

Anonymous said...

Inter cropping chili, setaria and corn on this hilly land in china sounds like a great idea to get this erosion problem fixed since it costs them about 1.2 billion dollars of damage

Anonymous said...

its smart what they did how they used cover crops to fight erotion and the best thing is that the can make money on the cover crop to

Anonymous said...

Intercropping is growing more than one crop per season in the hilly land. There are many benefits to intercropping such as reduced soil erosion, increased soil fertility and productivity, stabilize food production and an increase in farmers incomes. The second soil cover provided by the second crop helps reduce soil erosion. While intercropping, growing different soil on the land helps with biodiversity, helping with pest and disease control. Farmers could economically benefit fro growing chili peppers and corn because while intercropping these two plants, it shows less soil erosion and makes more money, with chili peppers making an extra 1,000-2,000 dollars a year. To help reduce the erosion in China and around the world, farmers should start intercropping because it has been shown to reduce soil erosion even though it may be difficult due to all farmlands not being hilly.

Chase Krug said...

Erosion can be controlled or reduced by using techniques of Agroforestry such as alley cropping. This method is successful because it utilizes a perennial crop species with annual crops grown between the rows. The perennial crop is able to hold soil throughout the year.

Anonymous said...

intercropping in China is a great idea to help with erosion on hilly lands. the money lost to damage is too much to ignore. the idea of intercropping should benefit farmers from losing crops

Anonymous said...

Intercropping was is a great way to fight erosion and help the economy at the same time especially with erosion damages expenses are extremely high

Anonymous said...

very smart ideas

Anonymous said...

Soil erosion continues to be an issue in China and around the world. What are additional ways that erosion can be reduced in China and globally?

I would say farmers here in our home state Iowa can reduce the soil runoff into the rivers by inter cropping. Most likely farmers would inter crop corn and soybeans, but even inter cropping corn and soybeans can help reduce erosion.

Anonymous said...

Intercropping is when farmers plant multiple types of crops in the same season. This helps reduce erosion, which increases how fertile the land is and helps the crops get more nutrients.

Anonymous said...

inter cropping in china is a good idea because losing California sized land to erosion is not ok and they need to fix it and this seems like a good way to prevent it.

Anonymous said...

I had no idea that erosion costed Asia 1.2 billion dollars

Anonymous said...

I did not know that intercropping could prevent erosion and help farmers have a higher income

Anonymous said...

I find it very interesting that growing peppers next to corn can help with soil fertility.

Anonymous said...

intercropping in china is a great idea to help with erosion on hilly lands.

Anonymous said...

I found it interesting how their intercropping system with planting chili and setaria with corn works.

Anonymous said...

What I found interesting was how intercropping can benefit the soil in several ways. For example, the extra soil allows the plant to soak up extra water and nutrients.

Anonymous said...

Before this i didn't even know what intercropping was. I had know idea that it could help prevent against soil erosion. Or that it could make the soil more fertile.

Anonymous said...

I had no clue that erosion cost 1.2 billion dollars in Asia

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

In southwest China, over 440,000 km squared are affected by erosion problems

Anonymous said...

I had no idea how much erosion has effected China. It's cool how by them intercropping they've found ways to stop or slow down erosion form taking over.

Anonymous said...

This is cool that growing two different crops helps the soil not erode as much. this is very beneficial since this helps protect the water from pollutants and keep it drinkable.

Anonymous said...

This seems like a good solution, but their numbers seem a little bit off. An EXTRA 1-2k per hectare?That doesn't seem quite right. In the US, farming corn, most farmers only get $1500-2000 gross income per hectare.

Anonymous said...

I think that it's pretty cool that you can inter crop and it help with soil erosion. And that it helps with making the soil fertile. That it helps the soil several ways and that it a lows the plants to sock up extra water and nutrition.

Post a Comment