Monokultur (of v. griech.: monos alone, only and lat.: cultura agriculture) is a form that soil management. On a land or forest-economically used surface only a certain kind is cultivated by useful plants.

In the agriculture one speaks of Monokultur, if on the same area of arable land year by year the same fruit is cultivated. Only few useful plants like e.g. Rye are compatible and need no crop rotation. The opposite of the Monokultur is the Mischkultur or - spread in the agriculture far - the crop rotation.

Advantages of Monokulturen

The cultivation of only one cultivated plant is first cheaper at short notice to large extent from economic view (scale effect).

• few special, very effective machines with high capacity instead of relatively expensive machinery with many smaller machines which can be co-ordinated with the different cultivation fruits
• more effective machine employment by smaller preparation times
• more favorable purchase prices for seeds, fertilizer, plant protection agent etc. (quantity discount)
• large uniform portions - better marketing, improves selling prices
• smaller administration expense
• improves cultivation methods by profit at experience and specialized knowledge

Disadvantages of Monokulturen

At longer term the use of the soil saves some disadvantages in form of the Monokultur:

• Monokulturen favour the propagation of specialized parasits (insects) and pathogen (germs, mushrooms), which can lead to harvest failures and whose fight higher costs of Pestizide (e.g. Insecticides, fungicides) causes.
• smaller protection against abiotische environmental factors like strong wind, rain or hail (in particular with Monokulturen in forestry thereby substantial biological develop like economic damage)
• higher plant protection consumption leads to risks such as accumulation of arrears and resistance.
• Wear of the earth leads to lack of mineral (soil depletion) => artificial fertilizer becomes necessary (negative consequences!)
• Use of heavy agricultural machines leads to the compression of the soil
• The pool of individual, smaller cultivated areas to large, coherent Monokulturen destroys partially biotopes and habitats of the natural Fressfeinde of parasits (see also: Consolidation of farmland)

Examples of Monokulturen

• Monokulturen are made predominantly in the coffee, dte and cultivation of rice
• In forestry forests in Monokultur are operated, in order to supply the woodworking one and paper industry with the raw material wood.
• The Great Plains in the USA is well-known for their enormous wheat fields. Into the 1930er years led here the Monokultur to catastrophic
• In the transferred sense also outside of the agriculture of Monokultur it is spoken about if the fact that 90% all computer with the same operating system work, leads to it that computer viruses spread very fast.
• The term Monokultur is used in the tourism, if whole countries or regions are dependent on this restaurant economics.

See also: Plantagen, Mischkultur, crop rotation

Related links

• Software as Monokultur

Articles in category "Monokultur"

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