The possession of rich soil and agroclimatic resources in the modern world is becoming one of the key factors for sustainable development in the long term. In conditions of increasing overcrowding in individual countries, as well as pressure on soils, water bodies and the atmosphere, access to sources of quality water and fertile soil is becoming a strategically important advantage.
Regions of the world. Agroclimatic resources
Obviously, soil fertility, the number of sunny days per year, and also water are distributed unevenly on the planet's surface. While some regions of the world suffer from a lack of sunlight, others experience an excess of solar radiation and constant droughts. In some areas, devastating floods regularly occur, destroying crops and even entire villages.
It should also be taken into account that soil fertility is far from a constant factor, which can vary depending on the intensity and quality of operation. Soils in many regions of the planet tend to degrade, their fertility decreases, and over time, erosion leads to the fact that conducting agricultural production becomes impossible.
Heat as a major factor
Speaking about the characteristics of agro-climatic resources, it’s worth starting with the temperature regime, without which crop growth is impossible.
In biology, there is such a thing as "biological zero" - this is the temperature at which a plant stops growing and dies. For all crops, this temperature is not the same. For most crops that are grown in central Russia, this temperature is approximately equal to +5 degrees.
It is also worth noting that the agro-climatic resources of the European part of Russia are rich and diverse, because a large part of the central European region of the country is occupied by black soil, and there is plenty of water and sun from spring to early autumn. In addition, heat-loving crops are cultivated in the south and along the Black Sea coast.
Water and ecology
Given the level of industrial development, increasing environmental pollution, it is worth talking not only about the amount of agro-climatic resources, but also about their quality. Therefore, the territories are divided according to the level of heat supply or the presence of large rivers, as well as the environmental cleanliness of these resources.
For example, in China, despite significant water reserves and large areas of farmland, there is no need to talk about the full supply of this densely populated country with the necessary resources, because the aggressive development of the manufacturing and mining industries has led many rivers to become polluted and unsuitable for producing quality products.
At the same time, countries such as Holland and Israel, having small territories and difficult climatic conditions, are becoming leaders in food production. And Russia, according to experts, is far from using its advantages of the temperate zone, which contains a significant part of the country's European territory, to its full capacity.
Agricultural Technology
The more people inhabit the Earth, the more urgent the problem becomes to feed the inhabitants of the planet. The load on the soil is growing, and they are degrading, sown areas are reduced.
However, science does not stand still and after the Green Revolution, which allowed in the middle of the last century to feed a billion people, a new one comes. Given the fact that the main agro-climatic resources are concentrated in the territory of such large states as Russia, the USA, Ukraine, China, Canada and Australia, more and more small states use modern technologies and are knocked out as leaders in agricultural production.
Thus, technology can compensate for the lack of heat, moisture or sunlight.
Resource allocation
Soil and agroclimatic resources are distributed unevenly across the Earth. In order to indicate the level of resource provision in a particular region, heat is considered to be the most important criteria for assessing the quality of agro-climatic resources. Based on this, the following climatic zones are determined:
- cold - heat supply less than 1000 degrees;
- cool - from 1000 to 2000 degrees during the growing season;
- moderate - in the southern regions the heat supply reaches 4000 degrees;
- subtropical;
- hot.
Given the fact that natural agroclimatic resources are distributed unequally on the planet, in the conditions of the modern market, all states have access to agricultural products, in whatever region it is produced.