(introduction...)

There are two types of strategies which may be followed in attempts to reduce the detrimental environmental effects of the agricultural activity. The most effective is to avoid the damage due to rainfall impact by minimizing soil disturbance and promoting practices which maintain a ground cover. The second, less effective, but easier to integrate into traditional land use practices, is to continue many of the typical agricultural techniques which result in rainfall impact, but minimizing soil loss and water runoff by crop rotations or by the placement of structures (barriers, ditches, terraces) to reduce the movement of soil and water along the soil surface. These two types of strategies make up the basis of all the conservation schemes discussed here. They are discussed as separate techniques, but the best control of soil erosion, water runoff, and maintenance of soil fertility results from combining all of the complementary techniques appropriate for a particular cultivation system.