My very last stop was Brazil, a developed country that takes up much of the eastern South American coast. I visited and interviewed a shifting cultivation farmer there, and, although Brazil is a developed country, I learned that shifting cultivation farming is commonly practiced in lesser developed countries (it is commonly practiced in Southern Africa). Shifting cultivation is a type of farming in which plot of land are used for farming temporarily and then abandoned. The land reverts to its natural vegetation after some time. This practice preserves soil fertility by relocating cultivation once the soil has shown exhaustion. One common type of shifting cultivation is the slash and burn method – forested land is cleared and remaining vegetation is burned. Since shifting cultivation is a form of subsistence form of farming, there are not many ways to advertise for it. However, the slash and burn method has recently led to an uproar of forest fires in Brazil, which has caused many across the world to despise the method, speaking out against it.
Strengths: good for soil
Challenges: destruction of rain forests, not very efficient
Tilling With Tess 