overcultivate
Farm land excessively
To overcultivate is to farm land too intensively, exhausting the soil through excessive planting, insufficient rotation, or inadequate rest periods.
The practice depletes nutrients and can lead to erosion or desertification: Overcultivated fields eventually become barren.
Figuratively, to overcultivate a relationship or opportunity is to work it past the point of diminishing returns.
Gradual wearing away
- infertilityInability to reproduce
- degradationDecline in condition
- leachingDissolving out by liquid
- overfarmingExhausting land through excess
monoculture · crop failure · salinization · compaction · acidification · overplowing · desertification · overproduction
Maximizing yield per acre
- overuseExcessive employment of something
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- agribusinessCommercial farming sector
- industrial farmingMechanized large-scale agriculture
chemical dependency · groundwater depletion · habitat loss · monocropping · resource drain · overharvesting
erosion
Gradual wearing away
- infertilityInability to reproduce
- degradationDecline in condition
- leachingDissolving out by liquid
overfarming · monoculture · crop failure · salinization · compaction · acidification · overplowing · desertification · overproduction · diminishing returns
intensive farming
Maximizing yield per acre
- overuseExcessive employment of something
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- agribusinessCommercial farming sector
industrial farming · chemical dependency · groundwater depletion · habitat loss · monocropping · resource drain · overharvesting
overcultivaterestore
Return to earlier state
regenerate · steward · nurture
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