Importance of studying and evaluating the climate for optimal agricultural production // Agricultural production engineering

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Introduction.

One of the primary importance in agricultural production is the study of climate, since not all crops can be under the same conditions of temperature, humidity and other climatic conditions that must be evaluated and studied, for the improvement and use of agricultural production.

All the knowledge we have about the processes and meteorological phenomena that occur in the atmosphere must be associated with agricultural production, or at least be one of the objectives to be raised when we want to increase the production of any crop or plantation.

Developments that the study of the climate in the agricultural activity must reach.

Being able to extend climate studies to be evaluated and studied with hydraulics, must be a fusion to be achieved, since in many cases our drainage systems take advantage of climates in rainy seasons, but the difficulty arises that Crop extensions must have the necessary study so that these waters can contribute their properties without causing our crops to be lost through stagnant water, for this it is necessary to deepen the hydrological and hydraulic study for drainage with the fusion of climatic knowledge.

The study of climate should not be in the mere climate and its atmosphere, ie for example if our atmospheric studies show that approaching rainy seasons is necessary that we extend these studies also to the practical aspects of agriculture where the field of action and study should extend from the soil layer from the roots of plants and trees, through the air layer near the soil where crops and animals live, to reach higher levels of the atmosphere that interest the aerobiology , in the transport of seeds, spores, pollen and insects.

To understand a bit how far the study of climate in the optimization of agricultural activity can go, we can cite the following examples:

The planning of an irrigation system, the choice of programs for harvesting and cultivating the land, the selection of crops and animals, varieties and breeds, and agricultural machinery are clear examples of how far the study should go of the climate in agricultural production.

Whatever the decision is, it is necessary to have an adequate knowledge of the effects that time and climate exert on the soil, plants and agricultural production in order to effectively use the climatological information destined to the farming.

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Problems encountered when associating the ideal climate for a specific agricultural activity.

There are climatic factors that spread pests and diseases in crops, which is why it is advisable to apply certain pest control techniques, other climatic factors that we must take into account to protect our crops is to protect them from the wind, and depending on the sowings that we have to protect them from: extreme cold, excessive sun. To protect our agricultural crops can also adopt artificial climatic systems, using growth rooms or heating structures, all depending on the optimal temperature for our crop.

Factors that determine a type of climate to be taken into account in agricultural activity.

The geography of an area, its position with respect to the sea or latitude, will define in part the existence of a certain type of climate. Latitude, height and location are the most important factors in climate zoning. All of them are intrinsic factors of each zone, for example the type of rains can vary or the degree of humidity can change, but the latitude where a geographical zone is located can not be varied.

A clear example is when we want to develop a sowing and production of a crop that is cold climate, one of the geographical factors that takes departure in this is the altitude, since the altitude will influence the lower or higher heating of the masses of air, at sea level, the air is hot, but as it rises in altitude in the free atmosphere, the temperature decreases. But the variation of temperature in the terrestrial zones of height is different from that of the free atmosphere.

Another parameter to determine a climate is humidity. It depends, of course, on evaporation, which in turn is a function of temperature (and the latter dependent on solar radiation), on the abundance and frequency of rainfall, but also on the prevailing winds and the direction of the masses of air in movement. In the town where I am from (South of Lake Maracaibo, municipality of Colón, Zulia State, Venezuela) the humid climate predominates that favors us in some crops and disfavors us in others, hence the importance of knowing how to choose our crops. that due to our humid climate not all conditions are optimal for some crops.

Rainfall is another parameter that is measured and taken into account as an influential climatic factor. Each time it rains, for how long and with what intensity are important aspects. That a thousand liters of water per square meter fall every year in an area does not necessarily mean that it is humid, if those thousand liters fall for a few weeks and the rest of the year does not drop a drop. The way in which these precipitations are distributed throughout the year is also a fundamental parameter. In the south zone of the lake as I mentioned before it has high humidity indexes, but also in some parts of the municipality there are high speed winds associated with heavy rains, this makes an area as important for our area as the banana is threatened by this climatic condition, which is why it is necessary to take into account certain elements that protect these crops from the strong winds, since the banana plantations are very unstable due to the high winds that hit them.

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Conclusion and final considerations

The different variations and types of climates can be in our favor or against, depending on which is our crop, the agricultural activity is not the only one that infers in the production of crops, also the animal production is affected or favored by the conditions climatic, in the vaccine production it is necessary that a climate exists with considerable precipitations, since the extensive summer makes reduce the production of grass, by concerning a diminution in the production of bovine meat.

An intelligent way to take advantage of the study of climate is to link them with other branches of agricultural engineering such as hydraulics, genetics and animal production, since the three branches are intimately linked to climate.