NPR - Abandoned farmland "is a worldwide phenomenon," says Peter Verburg, a researcher on land use at the Free University Amsterdam. Small-scale farmers with rocky soil, steep hills, or scarce water "give up because they cannot compete," Verburg says.
A century ago, farmers abandoned fields in upstate New York and parts of New England. Much of that land is now covered in forests. In recent years, farmers have walked away from land in Eastern Europe, India, Kazakhstan, Japan, and South Korea. By one estimate, the area of farm land that's been abandoned around the world since 1950 could be as much as half of Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment