Laboratory Learning Activity No.

5
Designing Sustainable Crop Production Systems

DATA SHEET

STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

A. Answer the following questions:

1. Differentiate conventional and sustainable crop production.

Sustainable agriculture relies solely on natural processes for input and recycles
nutrients on-site to eliminate the use of non-renewable resources. Sustainable crop
production refers to agricultural production in such a way that does not impose any harm to
environment, biodiversity, and quality of agricultural crops. Alternatively, conventional
agriculture requires an incredible amount of energy to produce, prepare, and transport food.
Conventional farming manages resource inputs uniformly, ignoring the naturally inherent
spatial heterogeneity of soil and crop conditions between and within fields. The uniform
application of inputs results in over and under applications of resources.

3. What are the factors affecting cropping systems? Briefly explain each ---

3.1. Environmental Factors

a. Climatic factors

The climatic factors include rainfall and water, light, temperature, relative humidity,
air, and wind. They are a biotic components, including topography and soil, of the
environmental factors that influence plant growth and development.

a. Soil Factors

There are a variety of factors associated with crop yield and the risks involved
with farming. The four most important factors that influence crop yield are soil fertility,
availability of water, climate, and diseases or pests.

3.2. Plant Factors

a. Growth

Potential crop growth is determined considering the prevailing weather conditions.

Reduced crop growth may be caused by reduction of the length of the growing period, low
temperature, limited supply from the soil of water, oxygen, and nutrients to the root system,
and a limited activity of the root system.

b. Root depth
 Roots help plants get the nutrients and water they need for healthy growth. They also
give back to the soil. The deeper and wider they go, the more benefits they provide to soil
fertility and stable carbon storage in soils. While alive and active, roots redistribute carbon
and nutrients throughout the soil profile

c. Shade Tolerance

Shade-tolerant plants are thus adapted to be efficient energy-users. In simple

terms, shade-tolerant plants grow broader, thinner leaves to catch more sunlight relative to
the cost of producing the leaf. Shade-tolerant plants are also usually adapted to make more
use of soil nutrients than shade-intolerant plants.

d. Resistance to pests & diseases

Plant disease resistance protects plants from pathogens in two ways: by pre-
formed structures and chemicals, and by infection-induced responses of the immune system

3.3 Socio-economic factors

a. labor, animal/mechanical power

Farm power is an essential input in agriculture for timely field operations for
increasing the production and productivity of the land. Farm power is used for operating
different types of machinery like tillage, planting, plant protection, harvesting and threshing
machinery, and other stationary jobs like operating irrigation equipment, threshers/ sellers/
cleaners/ graders, etc.

b. market, credit, farmer preferences

Crop production decisions reflect preferences of farmers which are based on the
structure of incentives and constraints that characterize agricultural systems. Therefore, an
assessment of the intensities of farmer preferences for technical and socioeconomic
interventions can provide useful guidance for the choice of appropriate strategies to improve
productivity and incomes. This possibly implies that until market and credit constraints are
alleviated, farmers have lower utility for more productive varieties.

4. Enumerate and discuss the determinants of lowland cropping systems.

The gradient is linked to three modifiers of lowland use: the relative value of lowland
cropping with respect to other livelihood strategies; the biophysical productivity of lowland
cropping; and the access rights to lowlands.
5. Compare lowland from upland fields.

Lowland is area which is lower than surrounding areas while upland is the area in
the interior of a country with a generally higher elevation; often hilly, but not generally
mountainous (compare highlands). Upland and lowland are portions of plain that are
conditionally categorized by their elevation above the sea level. Lowlands are usually no
higher than 200 m (660 ft), while uplands are somewhere around 200 m (660 ft) to 500 m
(1,600 ft).

B. Sketch/Picture of the Farm Design (with a macro design in a bond paper) Attach actual
picture of a monoculture and diversified farm.

MONOCULTURE FARM

DIVERSIFIED FARM

C. Improved Farm Plan

A. Monoculture
B. Diversified Farming