Question

Farmers use fertilizers to improve crop growth which can impact the environment though agricultural runoff. What is agricultural runoff? Provide two examples of how farmers can prevent it.

Answer 1

This is the washing away of the topsoil (including agricultural chemicals applied in the soil) by surface runoffs into rivers and water bodies after precipitation.

Agricultural runoff can be prevented by adopting good farming management practices such as rotation farming to prevent loosening the topsoil such that it is easily eroded by runoffs. It can also be done by avoiding farming in floodway zones such as in the banks of rivers.