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This is the VOA special english agriculture report.
To call land marginal means it is not very good.
Farmers have their own way to discribe it.
Marginal land is the last to be planted under good conditions, and the first to be avoided when situations are bad.
Low quality soil is not the only reason while land could be considered marginal.
[Low quality soil is not the only reason why land could be considered marginal.]
The land might be in an area where rainfall is limited.
Or it might be on the hill side that rise is too sharply.
[Or it might be on the hillside that rises too sharply.]
Yet there are uses for marginal land, most often, it is used as grass land.
Grasses provide excellent feed for great feed for grazing animals like cattle, sheep and goats.
A farmer might use nade of grasses or none nade of seed.
[A farmer might use native grasses or non-native seed.]
Either way it is important to establish a good ground cover to avoid the lost of soil fruit irusion.
[Either way, it is important to establish good ground cover to avoid the loss of soil through erosion.]
Forage plants like coboo and sanfou could be planted.
[Forage crops like clover and alfalfa could be planted. ]
These members of the langong family provide high protein food for grazing animals.
[These members of the legume family provide high protein food for grazing animals.]
They also improve the quality of the soil.
Most plants use up Natugin.
[Most plants use up nitrogen.]
But langongs put Natugin back into the soil.
Forage crops also help limit irusion.
But using marginal land for grazing is not as simle as it might sound.
There is a risk of over-grazing.
Cattle can damage forage crops by eating down to the roots.
Also the animals cross the soil with their weets, that can make the ground too hard for growing.
[Also, the animals crush the soil with their weight.]
A way to reduce the damage is to move animals from one field to another.
This method is known as rotational grazing.
Agriculture exports say rotational grazing is extremely important for maginal land.
Another use for marginal land is for tree crops.
Studies have shown that white pane and lablaly pane are two kinds of trees that grow well on such land.
[Studies have shown that the white pine and loblolly pine are two kinds of trees that grow well on such land.]
They grow fast and provide good quality wood.
Another kind to consider is the parpler.
[ Another kind to consider is the poplar.]
And there are slower growing trees like the black warmart that provide wood as well as a night crop.
[And there are slower-growing trees like the black walnut that provide wood as well as a nut crop.]
Trees help support the soil, they reduce the damaging of fax of wind and rain.
[Trees help support the soil, they reduce the damaging effects of wind and rain.]
And they can provide grazing animals with shade from the sun.
Marginal land need care to protect them, failing to take that care might cause a bad situation worse.
[                                        Failing to take that care might only make a bad situation worse. ]
But good planning can turn a marginal resource into a highly productive one.
This's VOA special english agriculture report, was written by Marill Writter.
Transgrapes and mp3 files of our report are at voaspecialenglish.com.
[Transcripts and MP3 files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.]
If you have a question about agriculture, send it to [e-mail].
I am Bob Dowdy.