Hidden destructive aspects of tractors on soil

Although tractors have tremendous advantages in pulling machines for plowing, planting, fertilizing and harvesting crops, they are considered a source of pollution and sometimes destructive tools for the soil.

In Egypt, farmers widely started abondoning the usage of farm animals, such as donkeys and horses, and replaced them with tractors, not only in the agricultural fields but also to pull carts.

One of main negatives of tractors is that they are a source of greenhouse gases. Consumption of fuel by tractors per hour varies from one tractor to another due to the power take-off (PTO power) and depends on the nature of the soil, whether it is muddy or crumbly, said Mohamed Ahmed, a farmer and tractor driver in Beshbeish village in Al-Mahala Al-Kobra in Egypt’s Delta.

Speaking to Jusoor Post, Ahmed clarified that if the soil is muddy, the tractor consumes more liters of diesel to plough it, noting that his 77-horsepower tractor is fueled by 80 liters of diesel. However, he added that some maintenance and updating work has been made to the tractor to consume less fuel, as 20 liters of diesel costs EGP 145 ($7.60).

It is estimated that one liter of diesel produces 2.68kg of carbon dioxide, according to the Driver Knowledge Tests website.

Ahmed, who also owns a subcompact tractor that is used in pulling carts instead of horses or donkeys, said that most farmers depend on tractors, unlike the past when farmers themselves were spreading seeds in the field and using animals to plough.

He added that farmers nowadays are using tractors a lot, because they cultivate two or three crops per year, although this weakens the soil and the quality of the crops as a result. Why do some farmers plant several crops in one year with the use of chemical fertilizers? Ahmed answered, “The land owner refuses to share in cultivating the land with the tenant, who is forced to plant several crops over the year to pay for renting the land.”

A long with tractors, most farmers nowadays also started using several machines in agriculture, including for transplanting seedling plants into the soil, Ahmed continued.

Economically, Ahmed said that despite the negative impacts on the environment, farmers prefer the machines to the farm animals, because the fuel needed for tractors is cheaper that animal fodder. “To buy 25 kilograms of fodder costs more than EGP 300,” he explained.

Causing air pollution is not the only negative of tractors on arable lands. Soil compaction in another problem caused by tractors, as their weight could compact the aerated soil and extract air from it, and consequently affect the quality of the crops.

“Compaction of the soil prevents water from being able to penetrate the soil below and rids the soil of its ability to breathe. Just think if you had a heavy object placed on your chest; the heavier it is, the more difficult it would be for you to breathe,” said Jafar Reynolds, a regenerative permaculture farmer and sustainability specialist, in comments to Jusoor Post.

Soil erosion, the removal of the top layer of the fertile soil, is another detrimental effect caused by tractors. Reynolds said that tractors’ non-stop work on the land weakens the soil and breaks it up into small pieces, making the soil easily vulnerable to erosion by wind or rainfall, “and then it often ends up polluting our waters, especially in areas where chemicals are used.”

“Soil is our most important resource but also most underrated and generally not considered by many, and it is the resource being degraded the most,” he said.

Reynolds added that “the overuse of tractors also destroys the humus in the soil, which eventually leads to erosion, as humus holds soil together, but the life within the soil is also being destroyed, and without life within the soil, there will be no life above the soil. Just a small handful of quality soil has more life within it than there are humans on earth.”

“When we kill this life, we're ultimately killing ourselves. The earth breathes, and this life within the soil needs oxygen and water to survive. When we overwork the soil and destroy the humus, we are ridding the soil of its ability to breathe and hold moisture, which in turn creates an environment where this soil life is unable to survive,” he said.

“The problem is that we tend to view the soil as just a substrate in which to grow crops so we can generate wealth, but we really need to start thinking of it as a living organism that has rights and needs, because soil is very much alive, and if we create environments in which the soil can't survive, we won't be able to survive,” he added.