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Desertification – The Silent Crisis: What’s Really Happening to Our Land?

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Explore the term Desertification and how it is impacting our lives. How to control it and if not what are the repercussions!

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What is kudzu?

Known as "mile-a-minute" and "the vine that ate the South," this creeping, climbing perennial vine terrorizes native plants all over the southeastern United States and is making its way into the Midwest, Northeast and even Oregon.

Kudzu-or kuzu (クズ)-is native to Japan and southeast China. It was first introduced to the United States during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 where it was touted as a great ornamental plant for its sweet-smelling blooms and sturdy vines.

From the 1930s through the 1950s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted it as a great tool for soil erosion control and was planted in abundance throughout the south. Little did we know that kudzu is quite a killer, overtaking and growing over anything in its path.

Kudzu grows out of control quickly, spreading through runners (stems that root at the tip when in contact with moist soil), rhizomes and by vines that root at the nodes to form new plants.

Once established, kudzu grows at a rate of one foot per day with mature vines as long as 100 feet.

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Kudzu: The Invasive Vine that Ate the South

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Kudzu looks innocent enough yet the "vine that ate the South" easily overtakes trees, abandoned homes & telephone poles.

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Research -shows that currently, 27.4% of land in China has undergone desertification Green Cover in China (1984-present). Source: Earth.Org , affecting about 400 million people. Studies are increasingly focusing on the effects of widespread desertification, which affects Overgrazing has been cited as one of the main causes of China's desertification. food security, people's livelihoods, and the environment, destroying habitats and contributing to biodiversity loss. We take a look at the causes and effects of desertification in China and what the country is doing to halt it.
What is Desertification?

Drivers of Desertification in China

According to scientists and policymakers, behind such widespread desertification in China is a combination of human and physical drivers.

The Impacts of Desertification in China

Desertification has proven to have extensive impacts on both people and the environment in China, as food production zones shift, leading to crops failing, livestock dying, and water sources drying up.

The Great Green Wall of China

The ambitious project is due to be completed in 2050, by which time approximately 88 million acres of forest will have been planted - this year it was reported that the project is actually running ahead of schedule, having already raised forest coverage in the zone from 5%, to 13.5% of the 15% target. This is helped by an annual event on 12th March, as the country celebrates " Tree Planting Day ", reminding people aged over 11 years old to fulfil their legal duty to plant three saplings per year.

Next Steps

As global players continue to focus on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the run-up to their 2030 deadline, it is important to understand how policy and developmental plans will link with desertification. For example, SDG 15 seeks to "protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss". This has been strengthened by the fact that 'The Future We Want' - a declaration on sustainable development and a green economy adopted at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio in 2012 - recognises the importance of "scientifically based, sound and socially inclusive methods and indicators for monitoring and assessing the extent of desertification".

The livelihoods and security of many people are resting on the progress that global leaders make in tackling both climate change more widely, and desertification as a specific issue. The impacts of desertification have clearly caught the attention of policymakers, but more must be done to make a meaningful impact.

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Desertification in China: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions | Earth.Org

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Research shows that desertification in China has affected 27.4% of the country's land. We take a look at what's behind it and its effects humans and nature.

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Desertification in China - Desertification Facts

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What Is Desertification? Desertification is the process by which land turns into a desert. In other words, desertification is when land degrades over time and becomes more arid, causing the land to be less fertile and productive. Desertification threatens human subsistence, as it makes natural resources including food and water much more difficult to obtain.…

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The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest - spanning 6.9 million square kilometres (2.72 million square miles) and covering around 40% of the South American continent. Making up half of the planet's remaining tropical forests, the Amazon rainforest is also one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems and is home to about -three million species of plants and animals, as well as one million indigenous people. But deforestation is threatening the health and future of this important rainforest, not to mention the wildlife and services that it supports. The recent victory of former president Lula at Brazil's presidential elections after years of overexploitation under climate-denier Jair Bolsonaro raises hope for the future of the rainforest, but the road to recovery is long and not without obstacles. Here are 10 stunning Amazon rainforest deforestation facts you need to know about.
10 Stunning Amazon Rainforest Deforestation Facts to Know About
Source: Our World in Data.
1. Over 40% of Global Tropical Deforestation Occurs in Brazil

Globally, we lose about due to land clearing for agriculture and livestock farming, logging activities to produce materials like paper, palm oil and soy production, as well as gold mining. The Amazon rainforest covers land across nine countries including Colombia and Peru, but around 60% of it lies within Brazil. Despite efforts to protect forest land, legal deforestation is still rampant, and about a third of global tropical deforestation occurs in Brazil's Amazon forest, amounting to 5 million hectares of forest a year 1.5 million hectares each year.
Mining-related deforestation detected by INPE's DETER alert system since August 1, 2016. Source: Mongabay.
2. Beef Production is the Biggest Driver for Deforestation in the Amazon

3. Gold Mining in the Amazon is On the Rise

One of more worrying facts about Amazon rainforest deforestation is that gold mining projects have increased across the wider Amazon region in recent years, especially along the Guiana Shield, as the global gold market steadily grows. Mining projects occur deep in the forests and degrade crucial habitats, posing significant risks of water contamination from toxic leaks and soil erosion. Gold mining activities often spreads into protected areas, such as Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units. Studies have also found that gold mining poses detrimental impacts on the health of the forest and limits their regrowth, where forest trees are discovered to have a lower capacity to accumulate carbon, and costing an estimated 2 million tons of forest carbon.

4. Soybean Production is a Growing Threat
You might also like: 12 Major Companies Responsible for Deforestation
5. Blue Macaw is One of the Many Species Under Threat

The Hyacinth Macaw , also known as the Blue Macaw, is native to the Amazon. But the species' natural habitats and resources grow smaller and smaller every day with illegal logging, agricultural land clearing and urban development. Today, it exists only in small areas including central Pará, the epicentre of deforestation, which saw 203,460 hectares deforested in 2019. While the strikingly blue parrot is currently classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), they are at the precipice of becoming endangered.

Likewise, Milton's Titi, an incredibly rare primate that was only first discovered in 2011, and can found only in a small area of lowland rainforest between the Roosevelt and Aripuanã River in the Amazon. As these monkeys cannot swim well or cross mountainous terrain, the live exclusively on treetops and can only remain in this specific area . Due to rising deforestation, the region lost 3,130 hectares of land in 2019, which could prove fatal for the survival of the species.

6. Deforestation Has Turned the Amazon Rainforest into a Carbon Source

The Amazon rainforest is a natural carbon sink and provides one of the greatest services for planet: absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Its ability to do so is crucial in our fight against the climate crisis. Yet, as a result of persistent deforestation and a sharp increase in wildfires, the Amazon has been converted into a source of carbon , and is found to emit a greater amount of carbon dioxide than it is absorbing. Forest fires produce three times more carbon than the forests can absorb, thus creating a negative loop. The study also revealed that the forest emitted about a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year , equal to the annual emissions released in Japan, the world's fifth-biggest polluter.
Source: Nature.
7. Deforestation Rates Rose Sharply Under Bolsonaro Presidency
You might also like: Environmentalists Celebrate Lula's Victory In Brazil Presidential Elections
One of the most startling facts about Amazon rainforest deforestation is that since the President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, deforestation rates have soared to record high levels . According to data from both the Brazilian government and Imazon, an NGO that independently tracks forest destruction, deforestation is distinctly higher under the Bolsonaro administration than at any time during Brazil's two previous presidencies.

The recent victory of former President at Brazil's 2022 presidential elections marks a turning point on environmental issues and sparks optimism on the fight against climate change and the future of the Amazon.
You might also like: World Is Not On Track to Meet Global Deforestation Pledge Goal by 2030: Study
8. Indigenous Communities are Key to Protecting the Rainforest

Indigenous territories and communities play a big role in protecting the Amazon's biodiversity and unlocking the carbon potential of forest trees and soil. Indigenous people not only have the incentives to protect their homes, but they have boundless knowledge of the lands and best practices for conservation efforts. Studies have found that Indigenous lands are effective buffers against deforestation and while other research saw providing Indigenous Peruvians with smartphones and satellite data has helped overall reduction of tree cover loss in the Amazon. But these efforts are under increasing threat as the current Brazilian government is pushing legislation through Congress that will make it harder for new Indigenous lands to be established and potentially allowing the government to repossess existing lands.
You might also like: 10 Deforestation Facts You Should Know About
9. More Than 100 Countries including Brazil Pledged to End Deforestation by 2030

Despite slower forest destruction rates throughout 2021, the vital goal set out by the Deforestation Pledge to end and reverse global deforestation by the end of the decade will be missed without urgent action, according to the recently published Forest Declaration Assessment.

10. EU Looks to Ban Food Imports from Deforested Areas

Here's one of the few encouraging facts about Amazon rainforest deforestation: the EU is proposing to ban six agricultural and food commodities linked to areas of deforestation to help protect the world's most vulnerable forests including the Amazon. Should the legislation pass, European companies will be required to prove that products they sell did not contribute to legal and illegal deforestation or forest degradation.

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10 Amazon Rainforest Deforestation Facts to Know About | Earth.Org

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The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest - spanning 6.9 million square kilometres (2.72 million square miles) and covering around 40% of the South American continent. Making up half of the planet's remaining tropical forests, the Amazon rainforest is also one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems and is home to about - three million species of plants and animals , as well as one million indigenous people.

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Kudzu is an invasive plant species in the United States. Its introduction has produced devastating environmental consequences. This has earned it the nickname "the vine that ate the South". It has been spreading rapidly in the Southern United States, "easily outpacing the use of herbicide spraying and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually". Estimates of the vine's spread vary, from the United States Forest Service's 2015 estimate of 2,500 acres (1,000 ha - 10 km²) per year to the Department of Agriculture's estimate of as much as 150,000 acres (61,000 ha - 610 km²) annually.

History and Biology

Description

Kudzu is a perennial vine native to Asia, primarily subtropical and temperate regions of China, Japan, and Korea, with trifoliate leaves composed of three leaflets. Five species in the genus Pueraria ( P. montana, P. lobata, P. edulis, P. phaseoloides and P. thomsoni) are closely related and kudzu populations in the United States seem to have ancestry from more than one of the species. Each leaflet is large and ovate with two to three lobes each and hair on the underside. The leaves have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, which can supply up to 95% of leaf nitrogen to the plant in poor soils. Along the vines are nodes, points at which stems or tendrils can propagate to increase support and attach to structures. As a twining vine, kudzu uses stems or tendrils that can extend from any node on the vine to attach to and climb most surfaces. In addition, the nodes of the kudzu vine have the ability to root when exposed to soil, further anchoring the vine to the ground. The roots are tuberous and are high in starch and water content, and the twining of the plant allows for less carbon concentration in the construction of woody stems and greater concentration in roots, which aids root growth. The roots can account for up to 40% of total plant biomass.

Kudzu's primary method of reproduction is asexual vegetative spread (cloning) which is aided by the ability to root wherever a stem is exposed to soil. For sexual reproduction, kudzu is entirely dependent on pollinators.

Although kudzu prefers forest regrowth and edge habitats with high sun exposure, the plant can survive in full sun or partial shade. These attributes of kudzu made it attractive as an ornamental plant for shading porches in the southeastern United States, but they facilitated the growth of kudzu as it became a "structural parasite" of the South, enveloping entire structures when untreated and often referred to as "the vine that ate the South".

The word "kudzu" comes from the Japanese word for the plant, 葛, or kuzu.

Origin in Asia

Kudzu is believed to have originated in Japan, where the ecosystem (primarily the tendency of kudzu to experience above-ground die back over winter) kept the vine from becoming a nuisance, and it is thought to have been introduced to China and likely Korea.

In Japan, kudzu thrives in mountainous regions, ranging from the 44th parallel north (the island of Hokkaido) to the 30th parallel north (the island of Kuchinoshima) and many of the lowlands and the islands. In Korea, kudzu grows in areas where the temperature can drop to −22 °F (−30 °C).

History of US introduction

The kudzu plant was introduced to the United States from Japan in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Kudzu was introduced to the Southeast in 1883 at the New Orleans Exposition. The vine was widely marketed in the Southeast as an ornamental plant to be used to shade porches, and in the first half of the 20th century, kudzu was distributed as a high-protein content cattle fodder and as a cover plant to prevent soil erosion. It was cultivated by Civilian Conservation Corps workers as a solution for the erosion during the Dust Bowl. The Soil Erosion Service recommended the use of kudzu to help control erosion of slopes which led to the government-aided distribution of 85 million seedlings and government-funded plantings of kudzu which paid $19.75 per hectare. By 1946, it was estimated that 1,200,000 hectares (3,000,000 acres) of kudzu had been planted. When boll weevil infestations and the failure of cotton crops caused farmers to abandon their farms, kudzu plantings were left unattended. The climate and environment of the Southeastern United States allowed the kudzu to grow virtually unchecked. In 1953 the United States Department of Agriculture removed kudzu from a list of suggested cover plants and listed it as a weed in 1970. By 1997, the vine was placed on the "Federal Noxious Weed List". Today, kudzu is estimated to cover 3,000,000 hectares (7,400,000 acres) of land in the southeastern United States, mostly in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi. It has been recorded in Nova Scotia, Canada, in Columbus, Ohio, and in all five boroughs of New York City.

Uses and cultivation

In the United States, kudzu has been used as livestock feed, in fertilizer, and in erosion control, and the vines have been used for folk art. In Korea, kudzu root is harvested for its starch, which is used in various foods including naengmyon, as well as a health food and herbal medicine. In China, kudzu root is used in herbal remedies and teas. In Japan, the kudzu root starch (or kuzu root starch) extracted from kudzu roots is used in cooking and natural medicines, and it is used to make hay that sick animals will eat. The starch is used in Japanese cuisine, and is widely consumed as such in that country. Kudzu is also used as a food crop in Java, Sumatra, and Malaya, and can be found in Puerto Rico and South America.

Other uses may include: paper products, food products, insect repellents (the smoke from burning leaves), honey, and methane production.

Kudzu also has potential as a source for biofuel.

Ecology in and effect on new communities

New communities

Kudzu was intentionally introduced to North America by the Soil Erosion Service and Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s for the purpose of controlling soil erosion in the American Southeast. When kudzu was first introduced in the southeast, it was initially used as an ornamental vine to shade homes. By the early 20th century, southerners began to use kudzu for purposes other than ornamentation and so kudzu began to come closer in contact with the land which, in turn, encouraged its spread throughout the southeast. In the 135 years since its introduction, kudzu has spread over three million hectares (ha) of the southern United States, and continues to 'consume' the south at an estimated rate of 50,000 hectares (120,000 acres) per year, destroying power lines, buildings, and native vegetation in its path. This claim, however, was disputed in 2015 with the United States Forest Service estimating an increase of 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) per year. In the United States, kudzu is extensively reported in Alabama, Arkansas, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Of these states, three in the southeast have the heaviest infestations: Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Ecological relationships

Kudzu kills or damages other plants by smothering them under a blanket of leaves, encompassing tree trunks, breaking branches, or even uprooting entire trees. Kudzu's ability to grow quickly, survive in areas of low nitrogen availability, and acquire resources quickly allows it to out-compete native species. Of the plants that can successfully compete with kudzu, many are other invasive species such as the Chinese privet and the Japanese honeysuckle. In the southeast, the spread of kudzu is especially troublesome because of the high level of biodiversity in this region that is not found in other regions of the United States. Kudzu and other invasive weeds pose a significant threat to the biodiversity in the southeast. They reduce the environment to impoverished "vine barrens". The fast growth and high competitive ability is achieved through several key features of kudzu that are detailed below.

Kudzu is a very stress-tolerant plant. Kudzu is drought tolerant and only the above ground portions of the plant are damaged by frost. Kudzu also forms symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria to convert atmospheric nitrogen (N₂) into ammonium which can be used by surrounding plants. Now the dominant nitrogen-fixing plant in the eastern United States, kudzu fixes an estimated 235 kilograms (518 lb) of nitrogen per hectare per year, which is an order of magnitude higher than the rates of native species. This ability allows it to flourish in nitrogen-poor sites where other plants are unable to grow. In the absence of other plants, nitrogen then builds up in the soil, allowing the maintenance of large leaf areas and high photosynthetic rates.

While little research has been conducted on the impacts of plant invasion on atmospheric conditions, a study conducted at Stony Brook University in New York shows that kudzu has increased the concentration of atmospheric NOx in the eastern United States, which causes a 2 ppb increase in tropospheric ozone during high temperature events in addition to soil acidification, aluminum mobilization, and leaching of nitrate (NO ₃−) into aquatic ecosystems.

Once established in a habitat, kudzu is able to grow very quickly. The vine has a growth rate of 0.3 m (1 foot) every day. The maximum length the vine can reach is 30 m (98 feet). Kudzu is also able to allocate large portions of carbon to root growth, allowing it to acquire sufficient nutrients for rapid growth and to spread clonally. Primary kudzu roots can weigh over 180 kilograms (400 lb), grow to 18 centimetres (7.1 in) in diameter, and penetrate soil at a rate of 3 centimetres (1.2 in) in depth per day. Kudzu can also root wherever stems make contact with soil, allowing vines to grow in all directions. Once rooted, most stems lose connection with each other within one year, allowing each stem to become a physiologically independent individual, and requiring that all stems be treated or removed in order to eliminate a population.

In addition to its abilities to obtain nutrients and spread quickly, kudzu leaves have paraheliotropic movements, meaning that they move in response to the movement of the sun in order to maximize photosynthetic productivity. Kudzu is also a "structural parasite", meaning that, rather than supporting itself, it grows on top of other plants and buildings to reach light. Its ability to reproduce and spread quickly allows it to quickly cover shrubs, trees, and forests, where it blocks the sun's rays from the plants below it, decreasing or completely eliminating their photosynthetic productivity.

Economic and cultural impact

The economic impact of kudzu in the United States is estimated at $100 million to $500 million lost per year in forest productivity. In addition, it takes about $5,000 per hectare (2.5 acres) per year to control kudzu. Power companies must spend about $1.5 million per year to repair damage to power lines.

Kudzu management is of great concern in the management of national parks in the southeast such as Vicksburg National Military Park, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In Vicksburg, kudzu has invaded 190 of the 2,000 total acres of the park and threatens to diminish the historical value of the park.

Control and removal methods

There are several methods for controlling kudzu growth that are used in the Southeastern United States. These include mechanical, chemical, and biological methods. Control of the vine is difficult because kudzu propagates through runners, rhizomes, nodes on vines, and seeds. Leftover root fragments from lawnmowers can also take root and become established.

Mechanical

Most mechanical means of kudzu removal practiced in the southeastern United States involve mowing the vine or cutting it back. These methods, though more effective than herbicides, are more time-consuming. Vines must be mowed down just above ground level every month or two during the growing season in order to prevent them from growing back. When using this method of kudzu control, all of the plant material must be removed and/or destroyed (burned or fed to cattle) to prevent the vines from taking root and re-growing. Another method of mechanical removal is to remove the crown of the plant. This part must also be destroyed to prevent re-implantation.

A different and less time-consuming option for the control of kudzu is treatment with herbicides. Some common herbicides used are picloram and triclopyr; the most effective are picloram and tebuthiuron. However, chemical treatments are expensive, and killing off the plant completely requires large amounts of herbicides (40-80 gallons per acre). Herbicides are found to be most effective when they are used during the typical growing season, June-October, and when used for successive years. One case study saw a significant decrease in the growth of kudzu after just two years, whereas another study required the use of the herbicide for up to ten years.

Another form of chemical removal other than herbicides is soil solarization. Soil solarization is a thermal (heat) method that utilizes solar-enhanced heating of the soil to kill the root system of the plant, thereby avoiding the use of pesticides and other more dangerous (fire-based) means to control the plant. Soil solarization affects the micronutrients and macronutrients in the soil. The most prominent effect of this method of control is the increase in potassium. The higher level of potassium in all soils undergoing solarization demonstrates the successful release of K from decomposing kudzu plant tissues. Such a rise in potassium levels by solarization is important for soils in the Southeastern United States that tend to be highly weathered and generally have low potassium contents.

Biological

As chemical treatments are often ineffective for long term control and mechanical removal is likewise difficult and costly for long-term control, kudzu makes a good candidate for biological pest control. There are several biological means that are already in place and more that may be implemented to control the growth of kudzu. Bacterial blights, insect herbivory, and insect seed predation occur in high levels in field populations of kudzu. Seed predation is quite prevalent, with up to 81% of seeds incurring damage in populations studied in North Carolina. A different survey found twenty-five different species of insect feeding on the kudzu. From this survey, several leaf-feeding beetles and sawflies that have no other known hosts were identified. A separate study also found two weevils that attacked the stems of kudzu and eight beetles that complete larval development in the kudzu roots. When evaluations of potential control agents are made, the range of the control agents must be taken into account. Organisms that feed on kudzu will often feed on similar non-target species that are important in agriculture, such as soybeans and hog-peanuts. Potential control agents have to be rejected if they are shown in laboratory and field tests to feed on these non-target plants.

Of the diseases that have been identified as potential biological control agents, the fungal pathogen Myrothecium verrucaria has been shown to be very promising. Disease development is very high at around 30 °C to 40 °C, which matches field conditions. In addition, the fungus does not spread outside of areas where it is applied. However, one major drawback of this biological control agent is that it is highly toxic to mammals, so extreme care would have to be taken in handling this organism. Other pathogens have been tested as potential biological control agents, but have proven to be ineffective.

Currently, grazing by goats and pigs is the best method for control of the vine. Another way to control kudzu is goats and sheep. A small herd can reduce an acre (0.4 ha) of kudzu every day.

Images for kids

Dairy cows grazing on kudzu. Columbia County, Georgia. 1952/1957?

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Kudzu in the United States Facts for Kids

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Learn Kudzu in the United States facts for kids

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When the Amazon rainforest is in danger, we all are.

The world's largest intact forest, the Amazon plays a key role in regulating the global climate. It is home to Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities whose land stewardship practices can lead us all toward a more sustainable future. It is perhaps the world's most biodiverse region yet also a place where there are likely still many species unknown to science.

The Amazon is, simply put, amazing. And, yet, it is being destroyed.

Tree by tree, kilometer by kilometer, the Amazon is being weakened by deforestation carried out by those who put short-term profits over people, over the planet, and even over our collective future. From January through July 2022, the highest rate of deforestation ever for the first months of the year was recorded, according to data from INPE, with an area of forest five times the size of New York City deforested in the Amazon during that span.

Life as we know it can not exist without strong standing forests.

Understanding the problems facing the Amazon - notably deforestation and fires fueled by the anti-environment policies of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's government - can empower us to see the solutions.

Let's start with the basics facts about the Amazon rainforest, deforestation, and the fires in the region.

© Christian Braga / Greenpeace

Where is the Amazon rainforest?

The world's largest intact forest, the Amazon rainforest covers 2.6 million square miles across nine countries in South America: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Approximately 60 percent of the Amazon Basin is in Brazil, where Greenpeace Brazil has been working for 30 years to protect it.

What causes fires in the Amazon rainforest?

Around the world, we have watched in horror over the last few years as images of smoke and fire have emerged from the under-threat forest in Brazil, but it is important to remember that fires in the Amazon are generally NOT a naturally occurring phenomenon.

Healthy, moist rainforests normally do not burn without intervention from humans.

The fires in the Amazon are often started intentionally by people - many of whom are illegal land grabbers emboldened by the anti-environment policies of Bolsonaro's government - who are attempting to clear forested land for other uses.

This process of destroying trees to clear forested land is known as deforestation.

As it is often done intentionally, the burning in the Amazon is different from the wildfires experienced in places like California or the Mediterranean that can be naturally occurring or ignited by accident.

Wait, fires are started intentionally as part of deforestation?

Yes. In the Amazon, fire is used in the deforestation process to clear the land of vegetation, often after large trees have previously been cut down and left to dry out. The burning season generally starts peaking in July each year to coincide with the natural dry season which extends through November. However, with intentionally diminished enforcement of environmental laws under Bolsonaro as well as increasingly dry conditions due to the climate crisis, there are fires in the Amazon all year round now.

While Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities have understood responsible uses of fire in land stewardship for generations, the fires generating global headlines in the Amazon are often ignited by those people who do not care about the long-term health of the ecosystem or the communities who live there.

These people putting short-term profits over the forest - as well as the global climate - include land grabbers and speculators, illegal loggers and miners, and those looking to seize public forests for private uses such as creating cattle pasture. Such enemies of the environment have been able to operate recklessly and with diminished fear of law enforcement since Bolsanaro became president of Brazil at the start of 2019.

In August 2019, there was a massive coordinated wave of simultaneous fires started in the Amazon in the state of Pará as part of the infamous " Day of Fire." The cattle ranchers associated with these illegal burnings were inspired in part by Bolsonaro who has made clear he supports a destructive economic development model.

Overall, the fires that month were the worst in the Amazon since 2010. In ensuing years, deforestation and burning have continued even as scientists have warned that Amazon is hurtling toward a climate tipping point of no return.

© Christian Braga / Greenpeace

OK, got all that? The Amazon is under threat from deforestation and the fires used for forest destruction by those putting profits over people and the planet.

Now we're going to take a closer look at what is driving deforestation and how it has been increasing in recent years.

© Christian Braga / Greenpeace

How much of the Amazon Rainforest has been deforested so far?

In the last 40 years, the Amazon had already had approximately 17% of its total area deforested, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). These numbers don't count areas of forest undergoing degradation, a lesser but still significant degree of forest damage which also affects biodiversity.

While deforestation is not a new threat to the Amazon, forest destruction has spiked under Bolsonaro's anti-environment government. Deforestation threatens biodiversity, the lives of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities and even the global climate.

What is the point of deforestation? Why is it happening in the Amazon?

Deforestation is the cutting down of natural forests and removal of trees from land in order to convert it for non-forest uses such as cattle ranching, growing animal feed, or illegal logging. This destructive economic development model has long been practiced in the Amazon, but it has been reinforced by the Bolsonaro government.

One third of all deforestation in the Amazon is perpetrated by land grabbers seizing public lands in Brazil. This land is stolen from the Brazilian public, often to create more cattle pasture and animal feed for the global meat industry. A survey released by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) in October 2021 showed that cattle pastures occupied 75% of the deforested area on public lands in the Amazon.

All the while, this criminal activity is rewarded by climate-wrecking Brazilian politicians, candidates as well as major banks and buyers of animal feed or beef around the world who continue to look the other way.

Agribusiness and meat consumption are the primary drivers of deforestation in the Amazon and other biomes in Brazil such as the Pantanal and the Cerrado, but they are not the only ones as the construction of new highways, logging roads, dams, mines, also act as catalysts for deforestation.

Is deforestation pushing the Amazon toward a climate tipping point?

Scientists have warned that further deforestation could push the Amazon rainforest beyond a tipping point where the moisture and carbon balance of much of the Amazon biome would become broken. Beyond this tipping point, the Amazon could effectively fail as a rainforest and begin to become a much dryer ecosystem, similar to a savannah.

According to some studies, this tipping point would be reached when 20% to 25% of the forested area is lost to deforestation. Given that approximately 17% of the rainforest has been lost already, we are perilously close to this catastrophic tipping point.

If such a fate befalls the Amazon there would be disastrous consequences for the climate, people, and biodiversity.

Is deforestation in the Amazon increasing anyway?

Yes. In 2021, the Amazon registered its highest annual rate of deforestation since 2006. That was the year when Brazil started a historic program - Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) -that resulted in a drastic decrease in deforestation.

Unfortunately, all the work that went into curbing deforestation is being undone as the world watches.

From August 2020 through July 2021, INPE's Amazon Deforestation Monitoring Project (PRODES) recorded deforested areas in the Amazon totaling 13,235 km². This was an increase of 21.97% in the rate of forest destruction compared to the same time period in the previous year, when 10,851 km² were deforested.

How is the Bolsonaro government emboldening deforestation?

The numbers don't lie, even if the Bolsonaro government tries to greenwash over them: The area deforested each year in the Amazon increased by 52.9% in the first three years of the Bolsonaro administration (average of 11,405 km² between 2019 and 2021) compared to the previous three-year average (average of 7,458 km² between 2016 and 2018).

This destructive trend isn't an accident, it's a climate-wrecking philosophy that exploits the forest, denies the rights of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities, and has dire impacts for the global climate.

One of the ways in which the Bolsonaro government has made it easier for illegal land grabbers to break environmental law is by taking money away from agencies responsible for enforcement. In 2021, the Brazilian government budget for the environment was the lowest in 21 years, as shown in a report by the Brazilian Climate Observatory.

The clear increase in deforestation in the Amazon is a result of the current administration's anti-environmental agenda, which has deliberately weakened forest inspection and protection systems.

© Diego Baravelli / Greenpeace

With the PRODES and DETER reports making it clear that deforestation is increasing and massive burning seasons are becoming an annual danger, it is easy to experience climate grief. But there are ways for us to work together, wherever we are, to stand up for the Amazon and to support the Guardians of the Forest in their generational struggle to protect their forest and their ways of life.

Let's take a look at some of the tools and strategies that exist to protect the Amazon:

How can the Amazon be protected from deforestation?

With the Brazilian presidential election looming in October 2022, it's clear that this is a crucial moment for the Amazon. The Bolsonaro government has revealed itself time and again as destructive, greedy, and short-sighted when it comes to the environment and the future of Brazil.

In order to combat deforestation and the rapid loss of biodiversity caused by forest destruction, the Brazilian government must reverse the dismantling of environmental law enforcement that has occurred in recent years.

In addition to actually enforcing existing environmental protections, the Brazilian government must use the effective tools it already has available for forest protection. Data indicates that legally designated "Protected Areas" are an effective tool to prevent deforestation in Brazil. The government can create these legal conservation units by designating the public land it already holds.

When public land in Brazil has no official designation, it is vulnerable to illegal land grabbers because it has neither a private owner nor an engaged government caretaker. For example, PRODES data revealed the loss of 1,300 km² of undesignated public forests in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia (also known as the "AMACRO" region) between August 2020 and July 2021. That is equivalent to an area larger than the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Another key aspect of protecting the forest is recognizing Indigenous Lands as well as the rights of traditional communities and quilombola territories. Unfortunately, under Bolsonaro, the Brazilian national congress has been considering legislation like Marco Temporal that benefit land grabbers and threaten to wipe Indigenous communities off the map.

Why are Indigenous Land rights so important to protecting forests?

Not only is the demarcation of Indigenous Lands absolutely crucial from a human rights perspective, but the recognition of Indigenous Lands remains one of the most effective and least costly tools for effectively combating deforestation. For generations, Indigenous Peoples have lived sustainably in the forest, developing and deploying agricultural techniques that do not destroy the ecosystem.

While deforestation has ramped up throughout the Amazon in recent years, Indigenous Peoples have continually proven to be responsible protectors of their lands. In the Brazilian Amazon, legally recognized Indigenous Lands and local communities suffer deforestation at 11x lower rates than the areas surrounding them, according to World Resources Institute. Indigenous Peoples continue to be guardians of the forest. Protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their lands means protecting everyone's future.

Unfortunately, Bolsonaro's anti-environment government has continually sought to undermine the rights of Indigenous Peoples, whether it with his public comments or through legislation that rewards land grabbers.

© Tuane Fernandes / Greenpeace

We must fix the broken global food system!

Industrial agriculture is the biggest driver of deforestation in the world. In Brazil, cattle ranchers and land-grabbers set the Amazon on fire to illegally clear land and expand their destructive business. They do this because the global meat industry - and its paying customers - have historically been willing to sacrifice forests - and our futures - for profits.

Land in Brazil is being destroyed and the survival of Indigenous Peoples is being threatened to make way for cattle raising as well as to grow soy destined to feed all of this livestock. Even though deforestation for soy production is banned in the Brazilian Amazon, the biodiversity-rich Cerrado has become a gigantic soy farming field, displacing traditional communities that have lived in the region for generations.

Thanks to people everywhere, especially those directly impacted in Brazil, the meat industry and governments around the world are finally being forced to face their complicity in this destruction. But neither awareness nor well-intentioned but non-binding pledges are enough to keep the Amazon from reaching a climate tipping point.

Companies need to end deforestation in their supply chains and stop buying products linked to the destruction of the forest. We need to see ambitious commitments - inside Brazil and beyond - to forest protection and to reinventing the global food system in a way that increases safety and equity in the Amazon as well as food security elsewhere without sacrificing forests like the Amazon.

Stand with Indigenous Peoples and local environmental organizations!

The battle to stop deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is one we must win. And there's only one way to win it: Together.

Wherever you are, you can educate yourself and support Indigenous Peoples and environmental organizations advocating for forests. Greenpeace Brazil has three decades of experience working to protect the Amazon and has the support of a global network of Greenpeace organizations, many also pressuring leaders and companies in their local regions to stop encouraging deforestation through climate-wrecking business practices and trade deals.

But there are many other groups and organizations working at the intersection of the Indigenous rights and climate movements who also need support, such as Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB), Amazon Watch, Instituto Socio Ambiental, and CIMI.

However you can do it in your own life, stand with the Indigenous People and traditional communities of the Amazon to preserve the standing forest.

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How deforestation is pushing the Amazon to a climate tipping point - Greenpeace International

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When the Amazon rainforest is in danger, we all are. The world's largest intact forest, the Amazon plays a key role in regulating the global climate. It is home to Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities whose land stewardship practices can lead us all toward a more sustainable future.

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Summary

Monocropping - the growing of a single crop over and over on the same piece of land - was invented to increase the food supply and combat hunger. Unfortunately, its unintended consequences threaten greater global food insecurity and worsen climate change. In this article, we'll explore monocropping pros and cons (spoiler alert: more cons than pros) and look at alternative growing methods that you can support.

I'll begin with a simple definition: monocropping is planting and growing one type of plant in the same place, year after year. It's the type of planting that occurs under a type of agriculture called monoculture. If you've ever driven through large agricultural fields completely filled with - say, corn - as far as the eye can see, you're in monoculture country. Monoculture is an agricultural system that involves the planting of a single crop, over and over.

That cornfield was a cornfield last year, and the year before, and it will be a cornfield next year, and into the foreseeable future. It's a monoculture because corn holds a monopoly on that field - no other crops allowed. Because monocultures typically exist at large scale, and can accommodate both conventional and organic farming, the vast majority of the agricultural yield in industrialized countries comes from monocultures.

The question is, why? It's obvious that nature doesn't monocrop. You'll never see an area untouched by humans that is completely dominated by a single species of plant. Nature abhors not just a vacuum, but sameness. Biodiversity is the signature of a natural system.

To understand the reasons behind the global shift to monocultures, and why the agricultural sector has embraced it so wholeheartedly, we have to look at the Green Revolution of the 1960s, and the hopes of the scientists, policy makers, and farmers who were struggling with the twin scourges of poverty and starvation.

How Did Monocropping Come About?

Monocropping was a cornerstone of a series of initiatives intended to address hunger throughout the world by increasing agricultural production. The plan was to develop a wide array of effective pesticides and herbicides, create and teach farmers to use new synthetic fertilizers, breed new and improved "high-yield varieties" (HYVs) of calorically dense crops, and mechanize farm equipment.

The thing that was going to make all of these innovations work was a shift in how agricultural land was used. Traditionally, subsistence farmers and smallholders planted a variety of crops, from grains to pulses to nuts to vegetables to fruits to herbs. But the new technologies and systems of mass production were only going to work, the thinking went, at a large scale.

The big machines were expensive and were designed to handle a specific crop. You don't harvest wheat with the same equipment you use to harvest soybeans. Each crop required a custom application of biocides and fertilizers, as well. In order to get the most out of these technological advances, farming had to change from the workshop model to the factory model.

To replace biodiverse gardens and farms with industrial-sized agriculture, vast swaths of arable land were converted into single-crop use. That way, the farmers could use their new equipment and synthetic chemicals on new HYVs that were bred to tolerate the toxins and make the most of the fertilizers.

As a result, farms around the world increased in size, on average doubling the number of acres under cultivation, in order to produce more food with less labor. With a single farmer able to produce more food, the number of farmers and farm laborers decreased, as human inputs were replaced by machines and by chemicals, often delivered from the air. Over time, more and more farms relied solely on these high-yielding crops, in the form of monocropping, to increase yields and profits.

This logic led to vigorous efforts to bioengineer HYVs to produce heartier, faster-growing, and more resilient crops that define monoculture, rather than relying on trial and error or "natural" breeding.

Now, let's look at some of the monoculture advantages and disadvantages for farmers.

Economic Advantages of Monocropping for Farmers

At first, farmers thought they were on to a good thing. They could now produce more food, and opted to cultivate the one crop that had the greatest profit potential for their soil and climate.

Another monocropping benefit to farmers was the perceived simplicity that saved them time and money, at least in the short-term. Focusing solely on a single crop meant the costs for seeds, equipment, fertilizer, and so on, remained relatively consistent over time, and farmers didn't have to keep looking for new suppliers.

GMOs and Monocropping

As bioengineered (BE) crops (formerly known as GMOs), such as Roundup Ready corn, soybeans, and sugar beets hit the market, the pairing process got even simpler. The farmer had a standing order of glyphosate (one of the active ingredients in Bayer's - formerly Monsanto's - weed killer Roundup) that accompanied every purchase of BE seeds.

Harvesting also got much simpler, as a single machine designed specifically for corn, wheat, or beets could do the work of hundreds of human laborers.

The Emergence of Factory Farms

And last, but certainly not least among the perceived benefits of monocultures, monocrops became inextricably interlinked with a massive expansion in factory farming (or what the industry calls Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs). Today, much of the world's corn and soy are fed to livestock, not to humans. And CAFO-raised cows, pigs, and chickens represent an almost limitless market for these crops.

The overall result of monocropping, for the first couple of decades, appeared to be mostly positive - at least in terms of the goals of bringing the world more and cheaper calories and increasing the economic security of the farmers who provided it. But all those perceived savings came with hidden costs that added up over time.

Monocultures (and the Green Revolution in general) were promoted to increase the global food supply. While that's happened, there have been several attendant negative consequences. (I'd say "unforeseen consequences" but I'm not sure that's true. It didn't take psychic powers to imagine the effects of a dietary pattern made up largely from factory farmed animal products and processed corn, soy, wheat, and palm oil replacing traditional diets.)

Economic Disadvantages of Monocropping for Farmers

The fundamental issue with monocropping is the "all the eggs in one basket" problem. Crop failure is an inevitable part of farming. For myriad reasons that farmers can't control (most of them falling under the categories of weather, pests, and disease), not all plants thrive and produce a bountiful and profitable harvest every single year.

In a biodiverse ecosystem, a threat to one crop may not be a threat to others. An infestation of stem borers can destroy summer squash but may leave eggplant untouched. An unexpected hail may crush corn and not bother beets.

But when fields contain just one crop, from genetically identical stock, every single plant is equally vulnerable to threat. A pest population can jump easily from one plant to another, especially when there are no other species of plants in between and when crops are planted close together for efficiency.

Monocropping Through History

To see the devastating results when a monocrop comes under threat, check out the history of the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, in which a single genetic variant of potatoes was wiped out by a water mold. The Irish people's dependence on that variant for the majority of their calories meant that over a million people starved to death (an eighth of the entire Irish population), and millions more left the country as refugees.

The history books offer at least one more example of the dangers of relying on monocrops. The world's most popular banana up until the 1950s was a variant known as Gros Michel. You can't find a single one anymore, as the world's supply was knocked out by a fungus that caused Panama disease, which led to banana wilt.

In response, banana producers turned to a less tasty variety, the Cavendish, which is the fruit we know today. Unfortunately, the banana industry didn't learn its lesson, as the Cavendish comprises 99% of the world's banana production, and is now under attack from a new variant of Panama disease called TR4. Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World , predicted in an NPR interview that the Cavendish could become extinct in the next 10-30 years.

A Trap for Farmers

Monoculture farming can become a trap for the farmers, who often have no choice but to keep purchasing the same seeds and biocides from their agribusiness vendors. Since the seed and agrochemical market was consolidated through mergers and acquisitions into just four main global players, these firms can exert monopolistic power over the farmers who depend on them for seeds and chemical inputs.

The result is increased costs and eroded profit margins for farmers. For example, the price of corn seed rose from under $27 per planted acre of seed to over $90 from 1990 to 2019, far outstripping the rate of inflation. And because monocrop corn farmers have invested so heavily in machinery and infrastructure for growing and harvesting corn, they can't easily exercise free choice and move to another crop or growing model.

The consolidation of seed and supply companies into just a few global companies isn't the end of the "bigger is better" story. Farms themselves are growing larger, by buying up competitors' land or squeezing family farmers out of business. Bigger farms that buy at large scale are rewarded with favorable pricing, which makes it much harder for smaller farms to compete fairly in the marketplace.

Many farmers are forced to buy Bayer seeds and pesticides even if they don't want to. When neighboring farms spray so much of the weed killer dicamba that the air turns hazy, those toxic clouds can waft for two to three miles, killing any soybean plants that aren't bioengineered with dicamba-resistant genes - which is to say, any soybeans not made by Bayer.

Government Subsidies and Monocultures

Not coincidentally, crops produced in a monoculture system are often the same ones that are subsidized by the government (at taxpayer expense, of course). Subsidization is generally delivered in the form of insurance for farmers, guaranteeing that they can sell their crop above a certain price, no matter how low the actual market value for that crop falls. The primary subsidized crops in the US are corn, soy, wheat, and rice.

One out of every five dollars earned by US farmers comes directly from government payouts. These subsidies now buffer farmers not just from the threat of a bad harvest or market crash, but from any marketplace fluctuation. Without subsidies, it would be economic insanity to grow just one or two crops. If the price of corn dropped sufficiently, a farm that relied entirely or mostly on corn for its income could get completely wiped out in a single season.

Finally, subsidies tend to favor large farms, as government payouts often disproportionately go to the biggest producers.

Monoculture's Impacts on the Food Supply & Food Insecurity

At a large scale, monocropping means that poor countries must compete with wealthy ones, in the open market, for a slice of the same global food supply. While traditionally a poor country might be able to grow its own food more cheaply, since wages were also lower, now the entire world bids for commodity crops, which places lower-income nations at a disadvantage.

Because the Green Revolution, in general, and monocropping, in particular, prioritizes efficiency over resilience, there's very little slack in the system when anything goes wrong. And in agriculture, things often do go wrong. Shocks and uncertainties are part of the web of life, which is why nature builds redundancy and diversity into its design.

When humans decimate that diversity through monocropping, any event that leads to a diminished harvest has ripple effects, such as increasing food prices and bringing about greater food insecurity.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Monocropping

We've seen this play out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank, a long-time supporter of industrialized agriculture at scale, has admitted that even before the pandemic, monocropped agriculture was collapsing. Here's a remarkable sentence from an article on the World Bank's website: "Even before COVID-19 reduced incomes and disrupted supply chains, chronic and acute hunger were on the rise due to various factors, including conflict, socio-economic conditions, natural hazards, climate change and pests."

As the pandemic unfolded, the article continues, these already scarce resources became even more expensive, with the Agricultural Commodity Price Index increasing 25% from January 2021 to January 2022. Again, the global economically poor were getting priced out of access to food grown on their own lands, which replaced the diverse and healthful horticulture and subsistence practices that had fed their families for generations.

For example, monocropping has displaced regional staples, such as millet, sorghum, and cassava, all culturally and nutritionally important sources of calories throughout much of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and South America. These foods have been part of traditional healthy diets for hundreds of years, and their displacement threatens global crop diversity.

Monoculture's Impacts on Human Health

Human health also suffers when factory-farmed animal products and processed grains and oils replace traditional whole foods in our diets. Monocultures of corn and palm oil can produce more calories - but far less nutrition - per acre than many other crops. In a world of cheap calories from fractionated foods, malnutrition now refers as much to micronutrient deficiencies as to starvation.

A 2021 research paper on the effects of monocropping on the health of the economically poor highlights the scope of the problem in its first sentence: "Approximately 2 billion people globally are affected by micronutrient deficiencies; much of which is attributed to consuming a monotonous diet of nutrient-deficient staple crops."

Researchers have also documented a relationship between the decrease in dietary diversity and a reduction in the diversity of the human microbiome, with accompanying health challenges. And once a particular strain of beneficial microbes goes extinct in a population, there's a risk that it will never return.

Monocropping also makes it harder for farmworkers to lead lives of dignity, freedom, and security. As pests become resistant to pesticides, and weeds gain resistance to herbicides, agricultural chemical manufacturers have engaged in an arms race, increasing both the quantity and toxicity of chemical applications. While there's some debate about how much exposure to these agents harms consumers, there's no doubt that farmworker exposure to biocides is extremely hazardous.

Monoculture's Impact on Children

Children of mothers who work in pesticide-contaminated fields experience more neurological issues, cognitive impairment, and autism. Girls who grow up exposed to pesticides are at greater risk of infertility and breast cancer.

And throughout the world, children involved in monocropped agriculture, such as on oil palm plantations, are being exploited. Globally, millions of children and adults are essentially enslaved by their agricultural employers.

Environmental Impacts of Monocropping

Humans aren't the only species being harmed by monocropping. The practice is making the planet more susceptible to the ravages of climate change by eroding the land's ability to retain soil and water.

A 2020 study published in the prestigious journal Nature reported that land used for agriculture or tree farms, which comprises 40% of all the non-ice-covered land on the planet, "... is less able to withstand fires, pests, and extreme weather events." And since monocropping farmers lack the agility to shift their planting strategies in the face of climate change, they're extremely vulnerable to these effects.

Pest and Weed Resistance

As we've seen, monocropping and pesticide use go hand in hand. But insects and weeds are rapidly developing resistance to the most widely used pesticides, which creates a vicious cycle - when bioengineered, pesticide-resistant crops fail, agribusiness has doubled down on the strategy by unleashing an "arms war" of increased and more diverse pesticide deployment.

This creates two additional problems. First, since the costs of losing the battle to a pest or pathogen can mean economic disaster for growers and consumers, there's little appetite to risk alternative approaches to pest management that don't involve all-out chemical warfare. Second, climate change means that new pests can now thrive in areas where they until recently had never been seen.

Effect on Pollinators

I'm sorry to say this, but it gets worse. According to a 2019 report by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), monocropping, and the pesticide use that accompanies it, now threatens not just plant diversity, but pollinator diversity as well. According to the FAO, over one million species of plants and animals are endangered, including many insect pollinators without whose hard work we would be in real trouble. Of the 20 fastest growing crops in the world, 16 require pollination from insects or other animals. And the danger is not evenly distributed - the most affected countries are the emerging and developing nations in Africa, Asia, and South America.

Disrupts Water Supply

Monocropping also compromises our precious water supply. Fertilizers add nitrates, nitrites, and phosphates to our drinking water, as well as to other bodies of water. Nutrients leach out of our food supply and into water - which not only don't benefit the ecology of rivers, lakes, and ponds but can harm them by creating the conditions for algal blooms that starve aquatic creatures of oxygen.

And impoverished monocropped soil is less able to absorb rainwater, leading to more flooding and more dependency on irrigation.

Decreased Soil Biodiversity

Fertilizers, pesticides, and factory farm waste also harm the ability of soil to sustain life. Monocrops keep adding the same things and depleting the same things, leading to less biodiverse, resilient, and mineral-rich soil (and more dependence on external inputs such as chemical fertilizers).

Monocropping reduces organic matter in soil and can cause significant erosion. This decreases the diversity and abundance of bacterial communities in soil, which in turn undermines plant health and ultimately the health of the humans who eat the plants.

Sustainable Alternatives to Monocultures

As scary and sad as all this is, there's some good news that's also part of the story - we know how to grow food in ways that heal rather than harm the earth and ourselves.

Regenerative Agriculture

What's known as regenerative agriculture, and millennia-old, indigenous growing ways, prioritize practices that mimic natural ecological processes and promote biodiversity. Shifting to regenerative agricultural processes is also one of the most powerful levers at our disposal to combat human-caused global climate chaos.

Regenerative farming focuses on the health of the soil as a top priority. Unlike monocropping, which sacrifices long-term soil health for the short-term production of marketable crops (did none of these scientists or policy makers encounter the story of "the Goose Who Laid the Golden Egg" as a child?), responsible land stewards treat the soil as their primary asset, which produces wealth in the form of food year after year.

Regenerative practices have been shown to enhance soil health, increase soil-based carbon stores (which is good for the climate as well as the plants growing in that soil), improve the physical structure of the soil so that it can hold more carbon, water, and oxygen, and boost soil biodiversity.

Intercrops, Cover Crops, and Polyculture

Other examples of sustainable growing include intercropping - planting more than one crop in a field - and polycultures, which means planting multiple crops together that all help each other grow better.

A well-known example of such a polyculture is the " 3 Sisters " of South and Central America: corn, beans, and squash. Planted together, all three do much better than any one on its own. The squash puts out big leaves that outcompete weeds, but only after the corn and beans have grown taller than the squash leaves. The corn provides a frame upon which the beans can climb. And the beans, like all legumes, fix nitrogen in the soil for the other two sisters. The result is healthier plants and higher yields without the need for so many (or any) chemical fertilizers and herbicides.

Another technique, planting cover crops on part of the land to serve as "green manure" for other crops, adds nutrients and reduces the need to import fertility from outside the farm.

Integrated Pest Management

A sophisticated method of dealing with insects that eat crops, integrated pest management (IMP) also mimics nature, which doesn't try to eliminate species entirely but keeps them in check through predation. Rather than killing life and reducing biodiversity, IMP takes the opposite approach, nurturing the presence of organisms that prey on the critters that prey on the crops.

Agroforestry

Nature, of course, doesn't grow food in rows, but produces its bounty in meadows, orchards, glens, jungles, and forests. All these ecosystems are characterized by robust biodiversity that's expressed in vertical layers, with roots, ground cover, shrubs, bushes, short trees, and tall trees all sharing the sun, soil, and rain to their collective benefit. Agroforestry is an approach to growing crops that mimics the design and function of a grove, with crops and trees interplanted.

While there is always more to learn, and there are many new breakthroughs to be had, this isn't entirely new science. Indigenous farmers have been refining these techniques for millennia, to protect their crops from extreme weather events, maximize the resources that can be harvested from a single location (legumes and lettuce and lumber, oh my!), increase soil fertility, and store carbon.

Indigenous farmers also save and treasure many varieties of each crop, which increases the odds that any disease that attacks a particular strain won't be able to destroy the entire crop. And the genetic variability also provides nutritional and usage variability, so the community can get far more from its arable land than a single crop would provide. This approach truly provides the farmers with land for life, rather than cash crops for a few seasons.

What Can You Do as a Consumer?

Given the urgency of our collective generational challenge - to produce food sustainably and ethically so that all may be fed - what can each of us do to participate in the shift from industrial monocropping to regenerative agriculture?

At a personal level, we can start by directing our hard-earned money towards foods that align with our values.

1. Eliminate Factory Farmed Meat and Dairy

A strategy with a particularly big impact is to steer clear of industrially produced animal products such as meat and dairy. That's because much of the monocropped and bioengineered corn and soy grown around the world goes to feed livestock.

2. Cut Down on Processed Foods

You can also say no to monocropping by reducing your purchases of processed foods, especially those made with palm oil, non-organic corn, and soy by-products. This isn't as simple as looking for "corn" or "soy" on a food label: corn by-products can hide behind words like maltodextrin, sorbitol, and fructose (here's a primer on avoiding these substances in packaged foods), while soy can be found in mono- and diglycerides and monosodium glutamate, among many other sources.

3. Buy Sustainable and Ethically Sourced Food

If that's what not to buy, what shopping strategies encourage more environmentally friendly and regenerative methods of growing food? As much as possible, buy a diversity of locally grown, non-BE, fair trade, and organic produce. The good news is, most of the world's farms are still small and family-run, and typically don't grow crops in monocultures. Smaller-scale farms are more likely to practice composting and other sustainable methods that reduce soil erosion and in some cases, even sequester carbon into the ground.

4. Shop Local and Small

To really increase your odds of supporting an environmentally responsible farm, frequent your local farmers market, support a nearby farm stand, or join a CSA (community supported agriculture) collective. It's a great way to connect with small-scale folks who are more likely to practice crop rotation, companion planting, and other sustainable techniques. You can ask them how they grow their food and learn about what they are doing, too. A lot of thoughtful farmers love to be seen for, and to brag about, the good things they do. And by spending money within your local economy, you help your community become more abundant.

5. Go Organic

Buying organic can be another way to steer clear of monocrops, as organic farming methods are typically not compatible with monocropping. While some large-scale organic operations may adopt aspects of monocropping for certain crops, this is more often the exception than the rule.

The majority of organic farms are practicing polyculture and crop rotation, prioritizing soil health, and using cover crops. And by definition, they also can't use most conventional pesticides or bioengineering, so overall their farming practices tend to be better for people and the environment.

6. Grow Your Own Food

You can also lead by example by growing some of your own food. It's a great way to reduce or eliminate your reliance on industrial agriculture in all its problematic forms. You'll also buffer yourself from future disruptions in the world's food supply such as we saw during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you have a lawn, you're actually tending your own tiny monoculture of grass. You can show your neighbors (and yourself) what's possible by turning that lawn into something more diverse and useful. You can grow food, or you might also plant a pollinator garden, grow food for birds, or sequester carbon by planting small trees. All of these options can improve the health of the soil and give a hand to your local wildlife.

Say No to Monocropping

Monocropping is an unsustainable farming system that has serious negative impacts on farmers, farmworkers, society, and the environment. What began as a proposed solution to world hunger turned into a race for ever-higher yields and short-term profits.

For humans and the environment to thrive, we need to shift to farming methods that are sustainable and even regenerative, putting more back into the soil than we extract.

And all of us can play an important part by not buying food produced using monocropping methods on large-scale industrial farms - instead supporting local, small-scale, and organically produced food.

Tell us in the comments:
Feature Image: iStock.com/FrostRoomHead

What's one change you can make to support regenerative agriculture?

Do you support farmers' markets, CSAs, or local family farms?

Do you grow any food?

Read Next:

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Monocropping: A Disastrous Agricultural System

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Monocropping - the growing of a single crop over and over on the same piece of land - was invented to increase the food supply and combat hunger. Unfortunately, its unintended consequences threaten greater global food insecurity and worsen climate change.

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The Environmental Impact of Monocropping: Challenges and Solutions

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Monocropping, the repeated cultivation of a single crop, offers economic advantages but poses significant environmental risks, impacting soil, water, and biodiversity.

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By Katie Garrity

May. 19 2020, Updated 10:50 a.m. ET

There is a lot of buzz around monoculture and monocropping. Many farmers have taken to this method of farming their crops as, for them, there are some benefits. However, when it comes to the environment, the benefits are few.

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The effects of monocropping can be extremely detrimental to the environment. For farmers and gardeners, planting monoculture crops may seem an easy method to get the job done, but in reality, the adverse effects of monocropping can lead to a number of issues down the road.

Monocropping has many disadvantages to the environment.

Now with each season of monocropping, the surrounding land is even more reliant on the pesticides to fight off predators which in return puts more chemicals into the system. Another factor to consider when arguing that monocropping is problematic is how limiting farms to just one crop does not provide the diversity needed in our diets or to our ecosystem. In fact, according to Healthy Planet, 75 percent of the world's crop varieties have been lost over the last century.

Manu Saunders, a post-doctoral Research Fellow in Ecology points out, maintaining biodiversity in plantations supports important ecosystem services that can increase yields, such as unmanaged pollination, biological control, and waste disposal services.

To fight against monocropping, shop local and buy organic.

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Here's Everything You Need to Know About Monocropping (And How It's Hurting the Environment)

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By Katie Garrity May. 19 2020, Updated 10:50 a.m. ET There is a lot of buzz around monoculture and monocropping. Many farmers have taken to this method of farming their crops as, for them, there are some benefits. However, when it comes to the environment, the benefits are few.

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What Is Monocropping and Why Is It Bad for the Environment?

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Monocropping (or monoculture) has doubled global food production. But it’s not sustainable, and there are better alternatives.

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Key Takeaways

Kudzu can colonize and dominate diverse habitats, outcompeting native vegetation and altering ecosystem dynamics.

Its capacity for rapid growth and reproduction makes kudzu challenging to control and manage.

Kudzu poses significant challenges for controlling and managing vegetation in affected areas.

If you've ever traveled the highways or country roads of Georgia, Alabama or Mississippi, you've probably seen kudzu -- a rich blanket of leafy vines covering large areas of land, trees and abandoned buildings.

This creeping and climbing vine flourishes in the Southeast region of the U.S. because of the area's humid and hot climate. Kudzu thrives on warm summer temperatures that regularly top 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) and mild winter temperatures that rarely dip below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius). What's more, the Southeast gets roughly 40 inches (1 meter) of rainfall a year, setting up a proverbial paradise for this perennial plant. As of 2008, kudzu covers more than 7 million acres of the U.S., and you can even spot it as far north as New Jersey and Illinois, as far west as Oregon and as far south as the Florida Keys [source: Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council].

Kudzu seems to be ubiquitous in the U.S., but this unusual plant isn't a homegrown fellow. It's actually native to Asia. In fact, writings dating back to A.D. 100 trace this hardy member of the legume family to China, Japan and India. It's been used there for centuries as a homeopathic remedy and for other purposes that we'll explore later. Although kudzu grows like a weed throughout the U.S., it's nearly extinct in some parts of China due to deforestation and its widespread popularity as a remedy for a host of minor maladies.

Considering kudzu's origin and reputation, you may be wondering how the plant got to the U.S. in the first place. It made its American debut in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was touted as an ornamental vine meant to provide shade. Several decades later, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu cultivation as a way to control soil erosion caused by deforestation in the South. The agency paid farmers $8 an acre to plant kudzu in the 1930s and '40s [source: Britton].

Kudzu grows quickly and easily and many swear by its healing virtue, but some landowners in the Southeastern part of the U.S. aren't happy with it living in their backyards. Before we find out why, we need to learn more about how kudzu and how it grows.

Kudzu belongs to the legume family and is related to the pea, soybean, peanut, alfalfa, aster and oat. Interestingly enough, it's also related to the cannabis plant [source: Britton]. A legume is a plant that produces its fruit in the form of a pod. A kudzu's pod blossoms into a tall, purple flower that has a grapelike fragrance. In late summer, the flower turns into brown, flat, hairy-looking pods that contain anywhere from two to 10 seeds. The catch is that only kudzu vines draped over other plants or objects can produce seed pods, because blossoms grow from those hanging vines. An entire cluster produces two or three healthy seeds, but they can germinate even after several years of dormancy [source: Everest].

As any landowner who's dealt with kudzu can tell you, however, this lack of viable seeds doesn't make much difference in the kudzu survival rate. The secret to the plant's durability is in the roots -- they sprout new ones to reproduce very quickly. These root crowns are relentless and have been known to hitchhike in truckloads of fill dirt and take up residency hundreds of miles away. They set up camp right on the soil surface of the ground. From there, these starch roots grow as deep as 12 feet (3.66 meters) and can weigh up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) [source: Everest]. These roots are rich in carbohydrates and have the unique ability to tap water from deep underground sources, which makes kudzu survive in dry, hot conditions where other plants can't.

At the ground's surface, kudzu vines sprout outward and upward from root crowns. New root crowns sprout every few feet along a vine, attach to the soil and spring yet more root crowns. Meanwhile, vines continue to grow as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) a day in summer months. Attaching to a tree, pole, fence or building, kudzu can grow up to 80 feet (24 meters) high. That's why some people call it the "mile-a-minute vine."

Kudzu leaves grow in bunches of three and measure 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) in diameter. These leaves twist and turn, depending on the intensity of sunlight that's beaming down, to provide optimal shade for their vines and roots while working their own version of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is how green plants turn sunlight and water into the energy they use for food.

As we learned earlier, kudzu's history begins in ancient Asia. For centuries, people in China, Japan and India have used kudzu for homeopathic remedies for symptoms of heart disease and high blood pressure [source: Drugsite Trust]. It's even been used as an alternative remedy to relieve muscular aches and to treat measles. Herbalists take the root of the plant and boil it to make a starchy powder or solid kudzu root starch. Some make liquid concoctions like ginseng extract or vanilla extract from the root. Yet others make tea from it.

Some studies suggest that kudzu extract can reduce alcohol cravings and others indicate that kudzu can be used to prevent and treat hangovers. In any case, the scientific community has found evidence that kudzu affects alcohol consumption in humans in some form. One study even found that although kudzu didn't deter subjects from drinking, people actually did drink less after ingesting it. Why? People who took kudzu actually got drunker off fewer beers than participants who didn't ingest the plant. Researchers thought that the plant may contain a compound that increases blood alcohol levels in humans and enhances its effects [source: Associated Press].

Kudzu has several uses outside of the medicinal realm. In fact, it's considered a delicacy in many areas. Legend has it that the Chinese ruler Shennong, the "divine farmer" and father of Chinese herbal medicine, tasted each and every herb in the area, including kudzu, and created a book based on his research [source: Dharmananda]. Since then, people have come up with more ways to put kudzu on the menu. Some use it as the main ingredient in a variety of condiments and dishes. In the Southeastern U.S., some people make and sell kudzu blossom jellies and syrups. If there's a way to prepare kudzu, you can bet you'll probably find a recipe for it -- quiche, salad, salsa, candy, soda and tea, just to name a few.

Leave it to the creative and resourceful among us to create even more ways to take something that's just hanging around and turn it into a useful product -- how about kudzu lotion? Along with this green bath and beauty product, you can also find kudzu prominently featured in folk arts and crafts. Artisans can build wall hangings, quilts, sculptures and baskets with handicrafts they've made from kudzu plants. Don't be surprised to find that a house's wall or roof was made with kudzu, either.

You may recall that kudzu was introduced in the U.S. in 1876 as an ornamental vine. It was also promoted as feed for horses and cattle. This makes sense because it's practically free, grows plentifully and seems to appeal to the taste buds of grazing animals. But kudzu's popularity as fodder didn't last very long, because people quickly found that it doesn't hold up well to trampling.

Kudzu may not have gained much traction as a bovine food source, but it may have a future as a source of alternative fuel for automobiles and airplanes. In fact, researchers are exploring it as a form of ethanol. This green, lush plant's roots contain large amounts of carbohydrates that can easily be converted to biofuel. These days, corn and soy are largely used to create biofuel, but some people are concerned that depleted supplies of both due to ethanol production could create a food shortage. In fact, the popularity of corn-based ethanol has already made price swings more volatile, affecting farmers, food manufacturers and even charitable organizations that depend on food donations [source: Ruble]. Proponents of kudzunol say that kudzu is the perfect solution for this dilemma; it grows like a weed and it can meet the demand for fuel for combustible engines -- without jeopardizing food supplies.

People don't call kudzu the plant that ate the South for nothing. As we learned earlier, kudzu grows really fast -- as much as a foot or two (30 or 61 centimeters) each day. Once it forms a blanket over land or trees, light can't get through, so the vast majority of the underlying plants or trees eventually die. Only the hardiest plants can survive the suffocating effects of a kudzu infestation. Considering that, imagine the damage kudzu can do to a food or timber crop. Forest economist Coleman Dangerfield estimates that for every acre of timber that kudzu overtakes, landowners lose $48 per acre per year. Another expert, plant ecologist James Miller, calculates that electricity providers spend $1.5 million per year just to control kudzu and keep it off power lines and utility poles [source: Britton]. That's scary enough, but the weight of kudzu vines can actually uproot trees, elevating the plant from a mere annoyance to an actual source of danger.

As early as 1953, the U.S. government began to ramp up kudzu control efforts. In 1970, it declared kudzu a weed because of the nuisance caused by its relentless growth [source: Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council]. The problem has only grown since then because of the way that kudzu overtakes and smothers native plants, setting off a chain reaction that undermines ecosystems in the process. It's chilling in its simplicity, actually: Kudzu disrupts the food chain by threatening vegetation that native animals use for food and shelter. What's more, kudzu root systems impact the amount of water in the soil and ultimately, the ecosystem itself. For these reasons, the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) recently added kudzu to the Global Invasive Species database and they've named it one of the 100 worst alien invasive species on Earth [source: Global Invasive Species Database].

What can a farmer, forester or simple landowner do to control kudzu? First, you've got to be persistent and be able to rally a team ready for combat. It's not unlike exterminating insects from your apartment or condo: You'll have to get all neighboring landowners to work together to snuff out a kudzu infestation. For your kudzu control program to succeed, each person must faithfully play his or her part.

Here are a few things you'll want to consider:

Size -- how large the infested area is

Proximity -- how close the infestation is to the trees, crops or plants you want to keep

Future -- whether you have plans for the land that's currently infested

On kudzu patches younger than 25 years old, three or four years of frequent and continuous mowing and grazing can keep it in check. In Tennessee, some people are using goats to chow down on kudzu in urban and suburban areas. You'll want to get the support and guidance of your local kudzu control program authority; even simple mowing and grazing methods require that you contain the infested area by cutting large vines and fencing it off.

From there, you may have to burn the land and apply a series of herbicides. The herbicide you choose depends on a number of factors, such as where the kudzu is growing, the size of its root crowns and the soil conditions, to name a few. You should consult your local kudzu control or land use authority before even attempting to buy any herbicide, though: Some of them are so toxic that you'll need a special permit to buy and apply any of the stuff -- they contaminate runoff water, streams, rivers, lakes and crops.

When you contact an expert, he or she will work with you to come up with the best way to address your kudzu problem. You may find yourself spraying tall overgrowth with a pressure hose spewing a fancy weed killer. You and your neighbors could end up driving big farm equipment like crop sprayers and dusting large areas of land that's covered with kudzu. Patience is the key: It may take seven to 10 years of repeated spraying, cutting and chopping to resolve your kudzu infestation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does kudzu spread and reproduce in new environments?

Kudzu spreads via extensive vine rooting, production of numerous seeds and vegetative propagation from stem fragments or root crowns.

What are the ecological impacts of kudzu invasion on native plant communities and biodiversity?

Kudzu invasion can reduce species diversity, alter soil chemistry and nutrient cycling, increase erosion and habitat fragmentation and disrupt ecological processes such as succession and pollination.

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They call kudzu the plant that ate the South for a reason. How did this leafy green legume make its way here all the way from Asia, and how has it managed to devour entire buildings?