Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Soil conservation methods help farmers protect their
land from the damage caused by farming and the
forces of nature. One method of soil conservation is
the use of windbreaks. Windbreaks are barriers
formed by trees and other plants. Farmers plant
these barriers around their fields.Windbreaks help
prevent the loss of soil. They stop the wind from
blowing soil away. They also keep the wind from
damaging or destroying crops.Windbreaks can be
highly valuable for protecting grain crops. For
example, studies have been done on windbreaks in
parts of West Africa. These studies found that grain
harvests were as much as twenty percent higher in
fields protected by windbreaks compared to fields
without them.But here is something interesting about
windbreaks. They seem to work best when they allow
some wind to pass through the barrier of trees or
plants around a field. If not, then the movement of
air close to the ground will lift the soil. Then the
soil will be blown away.For this reason, a windbreak
works best if it contains only sixty to eighty
percent of the trees and plants that would be needed
to make a solid line. An easy rule to remember is
that windbreaks can protect areas up to ten times
the height of the tallest trees in the
windbreak.There should be at least two lines in each
windbreak. One line should be large trees. The
second line, right next to it, can be shorter trees
or other plants with leaves. Locally grown trees and
plants are considered the best choices for
windbreaks. Studies have shown that some kinds of
trees can grow well even if the quality of the land
is not very good. One kind of tree is the white
pine. Another is the loblolly pine.Windbreaks not
only protect land and crops from the wind. Surplus
trees can be cut down and used or sold for wood.
Trees reduce the damaging effects of wind and rain.
Their roots help protect soil from being washed
away. And trees can provide another valuable service
for agriculture. They can provide grazing animals
with shade from the sun.For VOA Special English, I'm
Carolyn Presutti. For MP3s and transcripts of our
stories, along with activities for English learners,
go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA
Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
