Rational use of land: the concept and functions of land, the principle of use

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Exploitation of the land fund involves the creation of favorable conditions for the production of agricultural products. However, it is impossible to achieve high economic efficiency in this area without a careful calculation of the costs of energy, power and natural resources. The key to maintaining sufficient production in this area without harming nature is the concept of rational use of the land, the need for which over time becomes more and more obvious.

The concept of sustainable land use

We should start with the fact that there is no general universal idea about the technology of rational exploitation of the land fund, which would fit into the requirements from different points of view on the process of using this resource. After all, there areagrotechnical, economic, environmental, legal and other aspects of understanding this issue, although in each case there are similar motives and even means to achieve the goals. The central concept of the rational use of land will still be expressed through the production process - the achievement of the goals of agricultural activity with the maximum economic effect, but within the framework of optimal interaction with natural factors. That is, it is obvious that in some way the balance of land use regulation is ensured by two conflicting factors of resource exploitation - production and environmental.

Does it mean that rationalization is directly related to the search and development of methods for optimal agrotechnical activity, taking into account a whole range of operational factors? Of course, but not in every case, it is appropriate to speak of this concept as reducing the effectiveness of land management. Rational use of land is not only an orientation towards the constraining requirements of environmental conservation. To a large extent, these are the principles of efficient tillage, initially a more accurate calculation in choosing the destination of a specific land use strategy, determining the most energy-efficient cultivation methods, etc.

Functions of land resources

In addition to the fact that the exploited land fund is the main production means of agriculture, it is also responsible for global biogeocenotic and ecological functions,causing normal processes of biocenosis, that is, living space. The soil cover is saturated with vital elements, due to which, in principle, living tissues are formed on land. And although the total land area is three times less compared to the World Ocean, the biomass of terrestrial ecosystems is many times greater than the biomass of the aquatic environment. From the point of view of the rational use of agricultural land, it is important that the soil provides the life cycles of most plants. Due to the substances and trace elements that are contained in the fertile layer, the development of the root system occurs. The earth also performs important functions of protecting a wide variety of microorganisms - bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae, nematodes, arthropods, etc. Of course, not all of them are useful for crops, but they are also part of the biodiversity, thanks to which the soil also has a wide range of characteristics necessary for biocenosis.

Earth management functions

Rational land use is impossible without taking into account resource management functions. The most significant management functions in relation to the land fund include the following:

• Organization and implementation of land management with the formation of a real estate cadastre.
• Providing land plots to legal entities and individuals for economic activities.
• Land monitoring. It is carried out, among other things, with the aim of developing a plan for the rational use of forests and arable land, taking into accountspecific operating conditions.
• Protection of property rights to land property with the right to use it.
• Planning a land management and conservation strategy.
• Fiscal activities associated with the exploitation of land resources.
• Legal support for the protection and use of land.
• State control over the processes of land use and protection.
• Resolution of land management disputes.

Objects and subjects of rational land use processes

To understand the principles of rational use of land, it is also necessary to identify the participants in the exploitation. The objects can be attributed directly to agricultural land, including hayfields, arable lands, pastures, green spaces, etc. With regard to such objects, a strategy is developed for the rational use of agricultural land, and in this case ordinary citizens and organizations with municipalities. The nature of the relationship between objects and subjects of land use largely determines the factors that affect the possibility of its rationalization:

• Applied processing systems and methods.
• Technical tools (agricultural implements).
• The human factor.
• Compliance with environmental regulations for nature management.

Of course, ensuring the rational use of land is impossible without taking into account external factors. They are independent and not controlled by land users.relations, but also exert their influence from outside:

• Land policy of the state.
• Agro-climatic factors.
• Socio-psychological local factors.
• Economic conditions.

Stating the problem of land use

The desire to increase the efficiency of the use of natural resources to varying degrees has always characterized the agricultural activity of mankind. In the context of scientific and technological progress, the emphasis in changes in the tactics of exploiting the land fund is on rationalization, which is explained by an increase in consumer demand for food against the backdrop of continuing production conditions in agriculture. Despite the emergence of more and more advanced technical means and methods of soil cultivation and increasing its fertile potential, without the rational use of land, the tasks of preserving resources at the proper level cannot be fulfilled. Therefore, modern concepts of the use of the land fund are oriented both to its preservation and to the increase of its potential fertility (if possible by natural means).

Evaluation criteria for sustainable land use

Despite the volume of the concept, the rationalization of land exploitation can be reflected in specific parameters - quantitative and qualitative. The first group of evaluation criteria include economic indicators. In this case, rationalization is provided not only by reducing the fields used, but also by optimizingorganizational and technical measures. This also applies to agricultural tools, and engineering infrastructure, and transport and logistics models that are used in the processes of using agricultural land. The rational use of soil tillage, for example, is beneficial not only because of the reduction in finances spent. To a large extent, minimizing the impact of technology on the fertile layer allows you to preserve the structure of humus, reduces the risk of soil erosion, and also creates conditions for a favorable temperature and humidity balance of the earth.

In turn, the qualitative criteria for rational land use are expressed in maintaining a sufficient level of production indicators. Nevertheless, the main goal of agricultural activity is the production of certain products, and a decrease in these parameters makes the exploitation of the land unprofitable for humans in principle. How is the rational use of land assessed in terms of a qualitative criterion? The characteristics of the soil cover are taken into account, in particular, agrophysical properties and particle size distribution. Specifically, parameters such as density, stickiness, porosity, plasticity can tell about the state of the earth as a platform for the production of crops. This set of indicators will make it possible to more accurately determine the methods of technical soil preparation, and its composition with specific microelements and temperature and humidity indicators will tell you which plants can be grown in the data.conditions.

Principles of sustainable land use

Processes to achieve rationalization by certain methods often conflict with the basic goals of this concept. To avoid such discrepancies, it is necessary to adhere to the following principles of rational land use:

• Reducing the negative effects of agricultural production.
• Stimulation of the natural functioning of the biosphere.
• Monitoring the condition of the soil cover. Along with tracking the current indicators of the fertile layer, the rational organization of land use involves the study of resources at a more global level with the identification of general trends in the change in the geotechnical structure of the natural massif.
• Improvement and modernization of agricultural production technology in order to minimize the expended resources and reduce harmful merging into the land layer.
• Restoration of the original properties of the land fund. Both as a result of the influence of natural processes and under the influence of technogenic conditions, the natural characteristics of the resource can be violated. Ultimately, such changes entail the need to apply methods of reclamation, anti-erosion protection, reproduction of forest areas, arrangement of hydrological facilities, etc.

Land management planning

There are no universally appropriate methods and technologies for sustainable land use. In each case, at the planning stagecertain approaches are selected that will achieve the goals set. What is meant by the development of a plan in this case? This is the organization of management and control of land resources within a specific municipal and agricultural facility, based on a specific set of applied technical means and rules. In the course of planning the rational use of land, the following work is carried out:

• Zoning of land areas according to natural and agricultural characteristics.
• Review prepared land use proposals.
• Land management. Determination of land plots (surveying).
• Determination of land funds for inclusion in special registers.

Planning is also impossible without preliminary studies of the territory on which it is planned to create land funds. From this point of view, the following data will be important for the rational organization of land use:

• Mass valuation of land by agricultural characteristics.
• Geodesic, cartographic and hydrological terrain data.
• Update on land monitoring (if available).

The above data will help planners from the outset to correctly distribute plots depending on their operational potential. In the future, taking into account the external conditions for the use of land, a strategy for the rational use of land is being developed, the initial data for which will also be economic and technological opportunities.owner.

Directions for sustainable land use

The implementation of measures and principles for the rational use of land funds is almost always implemented in several directions. Only a comprehensive change in approaches to the use of natural resources can achieve high positive results. The main ways of rational use of land include the following:

• The human factor. Perhaps the most influential factor through which both beneficial and negative impacts on land use processes occur. Positive regulatory measures with an emphasis on optimizing tillage systems include the introduction of hay-pasture rotation, the revival of sayylyks (summer farmers), the implementation of cultural operations in degraded areas, and the reduction of pollution of the fertile layer with agricultural waste.
• Production process. Technologies of mechanical tillage are actively developing in terms of ergonomic, functional and power characteristics. However, increasing the technical efficiency of tillage implements does not always fit into the norms of balanced maintenance of soil fertility. Therefore, traditional tillage methods are being replaced by optimized concepts for preparing the land for planting. Zero tillage technology involves, for example, the combination of several work operations in one technological process.
• Agro-climatic conditions. Indicatorsmoisture and thermal effects on the land also determine their fertility and suitability for mechanical processing. Therefore, in terms of agro-climatic impact, measures are being developed for the rational use of land, the purpose of which is to ensure the optimal temperature and humidity balance. The most common set of techniques in this area can be called land reclamation.

Land protection as a principle of sustainable land use

State regulation of land policy also plays a significant role in the legal support of the rules for the rational use of agricultural areas. From this point of view, the rules of land protection are of key importance. This is a whole complex of not only legal, but also technical instruments aimed at reducing the harmful impact on the fertile layer from industrial enterprises, transport, mining enterprises, engineering structures, etc. How is the organization of rational use and protection of land in practice? It all starts with the already mentioned planning, which provides for the safe location of agricultural facilities, in terms of proximity to pollution sources in particular. In the future, there are legal norms that exclude the construction of the same industrial and engineering enterprises within a certain radius in relation to the land funds used. Another direction of land protection provides for the implementation of a wide range of reclamation and restoration measures.

Conclusion

In the process of evolutionary development, the soil and plant ecosystem has acquired a number of abilities to produce unique natural substances, proteins and amino acids, without which the nutrition of plant formations is indispensable. But this is far from the only reason why the practice of rational use of land is being introduced in order to preserve its basic functions. The soil layer is not just a tool for agricultural production. This is also the most important factor in ecological gas-atmospheric regulation, during which the processes of oxygen emission, photosynthesis and the return of part of carbon dioxide to the upper atmospheric layers take place. Only the named functions of the earth give every reason to conclude about its ecological multifunctionality, without taking into account which the risk of violation of the ecological balance on the planet increases.