Environmental impact of intensive farming in sloping areas

The increased demand for food causes intensive farming with high yield production and large water consumption to extend significantly. Depending on soil properties, seasonal rainfall, surface drainage and water resources, hence the consumption-infiltration balance, the ground water table might be raised or depleted; soils could be saturated or remain partly saturated with negative pore pressures. As a result sloping grounds may become prone to shallow slides, as mudflows, or deep seated movements, involving large volumes of soil, especially after rupture of major watering lines or after long uncontrolled irrigations. Within this framework the paper investigates the possible effects of replacing grassland with intensive apple farming on the stability conditions of slopes. Apples require frequent watering, especially during spring and summer to meet qualitative and quantitative productive standards. Also, sprinkler irrigation is often used to protect against hail. From the precipitation, irrigation, runoff, evaporation and plant transpiration balance, the evolution of the pore water pressure distribution within an average year is calculated. Then the modified shear strength of the unsaturated-saturated soils is determined and the factor of safety against sliding is calculated.