Smarter farming could help rainforest protection

Smarter farming methods could be the key to protecting the Amazon rainforest, it has been claimed.

Amazon farming change 'could benefit rainforest'

Speaking to the Associated Press, researcher Flavio Wruck said that using the American method of crop rotation and "revitalisation" of crops instead of just cutting plants down and totally replanting could be used in the Amazon.

"In the Amazon, the practice has been for ranchers to raze a patch of jungle, plant pasture and graze cattle on it for about 20 years until it's exhausted, and then rip up a fresh patch of virgin forest," the source explained.

Mr Wruck recently visited a 1,850 acre farm in the endangered rainforest and explained the benefits of turning to a different method of growing crops.

He noted that in some cases, crop rotation can allow ranchers to graze as many as five times more cattle on the same area of rainforest.

Cattle ranching is the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Written by Kimberley Homer. ADNFCR-2073-ID-19601885-ADNFCR