Cropping Pattern and Control Erosion in Atrak Watershed, Iran

Soil and water conservation are a key of sustainable agriculture. Conservation of soil and water are the most important component of sustainable agricultural strategies. There are some methods for Conservation of soil and water that cropping pattern is one of method for conservation of soil and water. The main objective this research is to determine the optimum cropping pattern of watershed with minimizing soil erosion. For this objective، a model is introduced that showed how we can minimize erosion with changing cropping pattern in Atrak watershed. The model is used a linear programming (LP) with objective function Minimization of soil erosion. The result showed the erosion is controlled by 60% with changing cropping pattern. But if farmers accept this crop planning they will loss their profit. These plants in cropping pattern should be supported by government. The policy such as price-induced encourages farmers to move from more erosive crops and cropping systems to less erosive crops and cropping systems.