The new study states that heavy agricultural equipment is responsible for soil compaction at depths below crop levels that affect crop growth.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image by Frank P. of Pixabay
Although most dinosaurs were the size of chickens (their size belies their sensuality in museums, so you don’t see them depicted), many were as big as a tank and just as heavy.
For sauropods, the cow-like heavy dinosaurs that spent their lives eating vegetation and avoiding predators were even larger.
For lovers of Jurassic Park movies (based on a couple of books written by the late Michael Crichton), they were the first creatures we spied on in the first movie, chopping leaves from the treetops. his hind legs to get there. the tenderest greens.
Whether it’s the 26-ton Apatosaurus, the 33.6-ton Brontosaurus, or the 85-ton real Argentinosaurus, there’s no doubt that when they moved, the earth shook and things were trampled.
It is the one that has been trampled on because of the overweight that some have in the farming community in question.
According to a recent study in the May 24, 2022 issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) researchers, Thomas Keller (Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and Dani Or (Department of Science of Environmental Systems, Switzerland). Zurich Federal Institute of Technology), the agricultural equipment has become so heavy, reaching the weight levels of the largest sauropods, that it is causing the compaction of the subsoil in the root zones below the depths of cultivation that affect the soil functionality.
It is true that our tractors and combine harvesters have become bigger, just as there is no denying that the mechanization of agriculture has revolutionized the efficiency of farmers ’crop yields. But, as the study points out, greater capacity has resulted in heavier agricultural vehicles.
A 1958-laden harvester weighed 4.4 tons, while its 2020 counterpart may weigh just under 40 tons. This is almost 10 times heavier in the evolution of the harvester.
The increase in weight of agricultural machinery over the years is the result of the increase in power and capacity combined with wider cutting tables and a larger grain storage capacity, all of which provide a harvesting efficiency. improved.
It should also be noted that the tires for agricultural machinery have also become larger, both in volume and width. With greater flexibility, it allows lower tire pressure depending on the load for buoyancy and traction and prevent the entire kit and kaboodle from sinking to the ground.
It is not a unique development, according to researchers. They target animals such as camels that have to “float” on soft ground (sand) and have evolved with a relatively high footprint contact area.
The study states that “modern agricultural machinery belongs to the floating category, with a large contact area,” as do sauropods.
We know that farmers understand that soils are complex ecosystems made up of fragile structures such as pores and pathways that allow water to reach the roots and air to circulate and allow beneficial organisms to spread. With each step we take on our soil, we compact it a bit.
However, researchers say that with the heavy equipment we have today, soil compaction is not only at the top, but at the depths of the subsoil.
In fact, soil compaction is occurring at 20 centimeters (7.9 inches), below where we normally work.
This is important because compacted depth restricts where a plant’s roots can grow as it searches for water and nutrients from the deepest soil. Compaction also reduces the amount of oxygen that can penetrate the soil, which negatively affects soil organisms (as well as crops).
However, it is true that farmers will add fertilizer to a depth from which the root systems of a plant can be fed, eh, how much is the fertilizer these days?
According to researchers, the weight puzzle leads to a puzzling problem.
Sauropods weighed so much and trampled plants and compacted the soil and subsoil that allowed their own food sources to grow.
While we are not at a turning point where our agricultural equipment is negatively yielding crop yields, researchers believe that design changes to agricultural machinery will help maintain soil structure or that humanity risks following the path of the dinosaurs.