Environmental Problems of Agriculture. I: Water-Related Environmental Impacts of Agriculture at the Field Level

The world's need to increase agricultural production leads to various impacts on the environment, some of them closely related to water processes. Water serves as a medium for transporting matter both inside and outside the given agroecosystem (a field). The water-related environmental problems of agriculture are connected with mechanical treatment of soil and use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals, and are naturally closely related to irrigation. The components of the environment most damaged by agricultural practices are soils (due to loss of fertility) and waters (due to pollution). The water-related environmental problems of agriculture at a field level will be studied by means of simulation models. One subsystem of models describes water balance processes, and another deals with chemical compounds transported by water. Integration of the two subsystems should enhance our understanding of the problems. The most important water-related environmental problems of agriculture, grouped in sets, are briefly discussed in this report. The sets are predetermined to a great extent by the natural conditions of the region. Some characteristics of the processes in a field are also determined by regional (zonal) features. That is why geographical analysis might be useful in the assessment and modeling of environmental problems of agriculture. A classification of natural factors that determine water-related environmental problems of agriculture is suggested. A related modeling effort for analysis of the governing natural factors is one of the principal routes to further development of the task