Concept in Definition ABC

A monoculture is usually a large plantation and with the culture of a single species. This cultivation method is intended to standardize the production and all related processes, especially fertilization and pest control. This modality at large scale aims at greater efficiency in the farm and a greater profit from the economic activity.

Monoculture is common in relation to eucalyptus, pine and in large plantations of cereals, cotton or sugar cane.

Some inconvenients

This agricultural practice can be accompanied by a number of drawbacks. First, the soil undergoes nutrient depletion and further soil erosion. As a consequence, there is a loss of fertility, which entails the need to artificially enrich the land with chemicals and xenobiotics.

Another negative consequence is a significant loss of soil and a reduction in the productivity long-term caused by shortage of nutrients and carbon. For example, the case of soybean monoculture is associated with a high consumption nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

The alteration of hydrological cycles is another of the drawbacks, since monocultures often cause floods and landslides on the ground.

The lack of variability in cultivation also affects the movement of animals from the regions where they are practices and, at the same time, supposes the disappearance of traditional crops and the ways of life that accompany.

The different changes in the environment caused by monocultures represent an increase in insect pests, since insects reproduce more easily in this type of crop.

Some studies indicate that birds are also affected by monocultures, since natural ecosystems disappear and this affects the loss of bird populations. One of the most threatened species is bees, which slowly diminish their population as a consequence of the toxicity of insecticides and their effect on the pollination of bees (the extinction of bees would have very serious consequences, since these animals are responsible for the pollination of most species vegetables)

Detractors of monoculture such as strategy agriculturalists maintain that it is an inappropriate practice, since it supposes "bread for today and hunger for tomorrow".

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