Future land utilization and management for sustainable crop production

Soil cultivation caused a great change in the ecological state, from a situation with the soil surface protected by vegetation to a situation with bare soil exposed to climatic forces during part of the year. Annual crops require annual soil cultivation, and the increased mineralization of organic matter and the loss of soil productivity by erosion, leaching and other degradation processes remain a problem for sustainable food production. The challenge for the future is to manage the agricultural landscape in units which are catchments. These units would contain intensively drained and cultivated areas, permanent vegetation zones, as well as natural and constructed wetlands working as condensors and self-purifying units. The management would be differentiated according to a land suitability approach with intensity of use based on productivity and requirements for maintenance of environmental quality.