Agriculture: Grazing Lands and Other Grasslands

Abstract

Compared to industrial activities or transportation, grassland management alters the surface to a modest extent. Under favourable topographic, soil and climatic conditions, with reasonably planned grazing, the growth and consumption of grasses are in balance. When any of these factors is significantly changed, the grass cover becomes interrupted, and this influences geomorphic processes. A well-known case is the sensitive environment of the Sahel, where delicate equilibrium was upset by large-scale growth of the animal stock – aggravated by natural climate change. The extension of grazing lands and the abandonment of the traditional ways of farming induced desertification. Significant damage by trapping and soil compaction is observed at the gathering places of animals. In the arid season, tracks leading to watering holes are hardened barren surfaces. In humid periods, however, these are wetlands where intensive trampling causes the incision of ravines along the tracks. Similar phenomena can also be observed, although sporadically, under temperate climates. However, the problems of grasslands in the temperate climatic belt are also of concern of agriculture, landscape protection and nature conservation, since the subsistence of the population here is not so dependant on the utilization of grasslands as in the Sahel. Human alterations on the grasslands of Hungary took place mainly through water management, various technologies introduced to cultivation and utilization of various intensities (grazing or mowing).