Agriculture and Salinity

Agriculture depends on having healthy soil to grow crops and raise animals. On most agricultural land around Australia, there is a layer of water deep under the soil, called a water table. Trees use this underground water source, by tapping into it with long roots that reach deep underground. When lots of trees are removed from an area, less of this groundwater is used up. This can allow the level of the water table to increase, and even enable groundwater to reach the surface.

If the rising groundwater is salty, the salt will kill many plants once it is within about two metres of the surface. In many places, it has become difficult to grow crops or grass because the soil has become too salty. Large areas of land in Australia have become ruined and are no longer productive for agriculture. This problem is called “dry land salinity”.

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