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Question: Importance and Benefits of Biointensive Farming

Answer: 1. We Only Have a Little Time
There may be as little as 40 years of farmable soil remaining all over the world. For each pound eaten by humans, between 6 and 24 pounds of soil are lost to agricultural practices like wind and water erosion. Biointensive farming will make the best of the little soil we have and will prolong this period.

2. Can Help Combat the Dwindling Crop Production Due to Global Warming and Climate Change
Global warming is cutting agricultural production significantly and will do cut it in half within as little as 20 years, if climate change and global warming are not addressed. Insisting on biointensive farming will work towards combating the effects of dwindling crop production due to global warming and climate change.

3. It Maintains Soil Fertility
Biointensive farming maintains soil fertility by allotting about 60% of what is grown to compost crops. Focusing on this form of farming can ensure that both the gardener and the soil are adequately fed and that the farm remains sustainable.

4. It Makes For More Farmers
Farmlands are becoming less productive and is making the number of farmers decrease globally. Many people want to farm but are facing several challenges like the affordability of land and equipment necessary for the modern farmer.

Biointensive farming makes room for more farmers since it’s a practice that does not need a huge chunk of land to farm. It can even be done in the backyard.

5. It is Better Than Conventional Farming
Besides every advantage known about conventional farming over biointensive farming, the latter one beats the former in various ways, especially regarding the key farming or gardening inputs. Conventional farming heavily relies on petroleum and natural gas, resources that are running out.

This, therefore, means the conventional way of farming will become more expensive and food prices will go up. Biointensive agriculture is an avenue of avoiding this inevitable fate and will equip the modern-day farmer with all the tools that can help save the soil, resources and our own lives. Biointensive farming uses 50 to 75% less land and 50 to 100% less fertilizer to produce enough food.

6. It Saves the Limited Remaining Amounts of Seeds
About 95% of the seed varieties ever grown in agriculture are now extinct. This is primarily because of the use of hybrid seeds and the growing of relatively few crops. Biointensive farming works well with open-pollinated seeds, which are seeds that can be naturally pollinated, by insects or wind, rather than hybrids.

It, therefore, saves on the amounts of open-pollinated seeds that are currently available and ensures their continued existence for a long period to come.

7. It Can Save More Land For Other Uses
Biointensive farming requires a lot less farming land in comparison to traditional forms of farming. Because of how this form of farming requires less land to produce the same yield of crops as conventional farming, more land could be saved for other uses. If the system is used globally, at least a third of the world’s acreage could be left for the preservation of plant and animal diversity.

(Source: Conserve Energy Future, 26 Mar 2021)

Source Link: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/biointensive-farming-importance-examples-principles.php