Agricultural Production And Evaporation

By decreasing the effects of evaporation, farmers can better use the water from rainfall and other natural sources and utilize less water while irrigating crops.

FREMONT, CA: Evaporation impacts agriculture in several ways. While plants require water to grow properly, water is often scarce in several agricultural areas. This shortage leads to numerous problems for farmers and other users in the same area that require water. By decreasing the effects of evaporation, farmers can better use the water from rainfall and other natural sources and utilize less water while irrigating crops.

Some of the effects of evaporation on agricultural production are as follows:

Raised Cost

As water is an expensive resource in numerous agricultural areas, one impact of evaporation is an increase in the price of growing crops. Not just must farmers pay to take water to irrigate crops, but they must also shop for costly irrigating equipment that utilizes diesel or other fuel to pump the water to the crops. This diesel utilization increases the cost of operating the farm and raises pollution. Though there are ways to decrease evaporation, it is impossible to stop water loss from evaporation completely.

Soil Problems

Evaporation induces the upper levels of soil to turn dry and hard. When rain or irrigation water falls onto the soil, a significant portion runs off the soil instead of soaking into the ground. Plants may fail to grow when the ground is too dry and the soil is more sensitive to wind erosion. One solution to this issue is conservation tillage. In this procedure, some of the natural vegetation on the ground rest after tilling the soil. This vegetation has several positive effects, enabling rain or irrigation water to penetrate the soil and diminishing the amount of water that evaporates from the soil.

Plant Stress

Moisture evaporation induces problems for crops. It is crucial for farmers to handle the irrigation of plants, as too little properly and too much water may harm the plants. Crops that are not properly watered, receiving too much or too little water, are more susceptible to disease, rot, and other problems. Additionally, plants that lack water are usually not healthy enough to use water when it is fully available. Farmers must keep their plants properly watered from planting with the harvest.

Using Scientific Farming Methods

Though evaporation is a natural action, managing crops, soil, and water use to balance the requirement for agricultural production with the different demands on water sources is an important facet of agriculture. Different branches of science work to examine the rate of evaporation in agricultural fields and the methods to decrease it. Farmers must function with local agricultural offices, researchers, and others to develop the most effective methods for growing plants. This may need the farmer to change planting and harvesting procedures, better monitor and oversee irrigation methods, or even modify the crops grown.