The Crescent

-By Ahmed ALHAYEK

The colour orange is colliding with the walls, museums are turning into food courts. Tomatoes, Potatoes, and glue. A glue to stick and raise the slogan “JUST STOP OIL”. Although I disagree with the method of protest, the matter is sensible, and yet the subject to be discussed is no less important. Soil is under different threats, the texture that holds organic, and inorganic matter. The role of soil that plays does not need to be explained, to play its role sufficiently, some characteristic takes place. Soil drainage is defined as the ability of soil to deliver Oxygen to the plant roots. By this, we understand that the soil’s ability to deliver Oxygen is crucial and needs to be protected. Unfortunately, with harvesters, the respiratory system of soil is under intensive care. The heavy harvest trucks compact the soil and cause damage, in fact, they can help in aerating the soil, yet the harm they cause is larger, by affecting the soil’s fertility. A foot or more of soil is compressed, resulting in the crushing of pores, a decrease in oxygen levels, and the destruction of the life foundations for healthy soils, roots, and crops.

Researchers at Harper Adams University in Shropshire used Robots to do the full cycle of harvesting the crops, including cultivation, growing and harvesting. All this is to reduce the stress and the compaction that heavy farm machinery causes to the soil. “It’s possible during parts of the year to run farm equipment 24 hours a day,” Loewenberg-DeBoer says. “Very few farmers do that, but robots don’t care.” Farmers put in a lot of work; however, they fall short of the persistent robots’ work rate.
Should we move forward with robotic equipment and leave the farm works to an autonomous process? And, What about the Soil?

Sources: 1. LEEPER, G.W. (1993) Soil Science. An Introduction
2. TIM FOLGER. (2022) Increasingly heavy farm equipment is crushing fertile soils.

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