Vanishing from Beneath Our Feet: The Catastrophic Decline of the World's Topsoil.
Since American agriculture began, over 50% of our topsoil has eroded away. Between the Second World War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, farmland equivalent to a third of all farmland in use today has been abandoned due to topsoil decay. Dirt is second only to water when it comes to important resources, is by no means an inexhaustible resource, and we're running out fast.
This isn't a new problem, either. Ancient Mesopotamia was once known as the Fertile Crescent and the Cradle of Life. Today, it's a wasteland as far as agriculture is concerned. They over-irrigated their fields, leading to huge amounts of salt being deposited in the soil. Likewise, much of Italy outside the northern river valley regions (like Parma) is still terrible for agriculture- the topsoil destruction and deforestation done by the Roman Empire have left scars that ruin the land for anything but olives and wine grapes to this day.
This isn't inherent to agriculture, however. There are agricultural traditions that avoid these pitfalls. Traditional Mesoamerican agriculture, for instance, was extraordinarily sustainable. Likewise with South American agriculture. The issue lies with the techniques used. Conventional agriculture tends to try and follow a relatively simple direction set. Rectangular field, straight line tills, add fertilizer, etc, etc. And, well, it causes a ton of problems.
First off, tilling. Tilling involves breaking up the soil to control weeds and to more easily plant crops and add fertilizer. It also, however, has the side effect of killing off many of the microorganisms, worms, and other critters living in the soil. This results in much less healthy soil which absorbs less water (making the land less drought resistant), creates more runoff (which is causing all sorts of problems as the fertilizers and pesticides make their way to the ocean), and increases the topsoil erosion rate. No till farming is by far the more sustainable and environmentally friendly option.
Field shape is also a big one. More sustainable farming techniques rely on adapting the shape of the field to the terrain- contoured fields, terracing, etc. Trying to force your field into a rectangular shape can result in increased runoff, erosion, etc.
Monocropping is also a huge problem. It wears out the soil, renders it vulnerable to disease, and doesn't sufficiently cover the soil- it's best to have multiple crops that ripen at different times of the year, with at least one that covers the ground entirely to preserve the soil- all of them in the same field.
There has been a lot of progress in promoting more sustainable agricultural techniques, but we have a long way to go. And to be clear, organic farming does not necessarily mean sustainable farming in the sense I'm talking about. There tends to be little difference in the soil erosion rates of organic farms and conventional farms. The organic farms are a little better on average, but not enough to pat themselves on the back over. This is a more fundamental shift in our farming paradigm than one of simply avoiding pesticides and herbicides. It's a much more important one, too- when a civilization wrecks its soil, it either collapses or is forced to outsource its agriculture to another region at great economic cost, as Rome did to Egypt- and not only can that cost be crippling, but we're about out of places to export it to.
Change needs to come from above and below- individual farmers need to change their techniques, and the government needs to change regulations and crop insurance and subsidies to better support these changes. We need to start working with the land and adapting to it, not conquering it and expecting it to adapt to us.
Bibliography:
http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/soil-health-agriculture-trend-usda-000513
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization, by David R. Montgomery
Environmental Problems of the Greeks and Romans, by J. Donald Hughes
Tangentially, this may interest you; it's the best article I could find quickly on the Prince of Wales.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/14/prince-charles-organic-farming
He attends most of the major agricultural events in Britain, and some of the minor ones, too. He's always been willing to talk to local farmers and advise them on matters organic and alternative.
That's super cool, I didn't know that.
I grew up in rural Arkansas literally surrounded by fields. It is ridiculous the amount of chemicals and fertilizers that farmers dump on the ground. Our house was crop-dusted on more than one occasion.
You're right! We definitely need to find a better way.
We've known the better way for a long time- it's just less profitable.
Unfortunately, government policies toward soil management have been poor for years.
But rodaleinstitute.org has been doing some awesome research which seem to indicate that the newer organic farming practices are capable of producing the same amount of human edible food as industrial farming, and do it cheaper.
Alan Savorys' research on holistic grazing has shown to improve grass/land quality.
Don't dispair!
Some of us farmers are doing the right things, but like all new technologies, it's gonna take time.
I'll have to check out those sources, thanks! It's farmers like you guys that give me hope here.
Well written and informative, as usual from mountain. I've been learning a lot in the last couple years about farming practices as I've changed my eating habits, but of all the books read and documentaries watched this is the most I've learned about how our soil is effected.
Subsidies and insurance are a big problem, and it's so strongly established now that it's become incredibly hard to change, because all those people making money will fight against any change for the better, because it takes money from them. So farmers who want to use these better methods end up with a much higher cost, making it less appealing to those trying to run a profitable business. Not to mention the land being destroyed by cattle farms that could grow good crops, and that we grow corn just to feed those cows at a rate that 1 person's beef consumes 10 peoples' worth of corn.
Keeping myself from straying into another topic entirely, I will at least say that I personally don't think eating meat in and of itself is wrong; I live somewhere that i can first hand be a part of sustainable meat eating if I choose to. But modern practices and consumption amounts are bad in many ways, and just looking at the most efficient way to feed people it's obviously supporting sustainable crops. Hopefully our government can come around to see that within the next 10 years, by the time my kids become adults.
I think meat eating is fine as well- but eating it with every single meal is a bit absurd. Glad you liked it, and glad you've been learning about this stuff, and more than that, putting it into practice!
i want to say something really great here, because I enjoyed this article and I learned a lot reading it. Sadly, my expertise here doesn't begin to touch yours or that of your previous commenters.
I don't know what it will take for humanity to "get smart" when managing the resources of the planet. And I am really alarmed at what Monsanto is being allowed (and subsidized!!) to do in basically poisoning the food chain. They are also a culprit in all the chemicals being infused into the soil and washed into the sea. (Tangential comment: I read recently that scientists are finding measurable amounts of Metformin in fish now -- from the drug in the urine of so many diabetics now making its way into the rivers and oceans.)
And now we can add perpetually poor farming and food cultivation practices to the list of things that have done harm and need revising. (It never ends!)
Once we permit big corporations to ruin our food supply for their profit, the human race has signed its death warrant. We may be in a race to see which happens first -- irreversible famine or catastrophic weather and climate changes from global warming.
In all cases, we were warned -- and did nothing. Your article continues to sound the alarm. Maybe somewhere, somehow we'll put an end to this madness. I sure hope so.
from #theunmentionables
Fantastic post! Yes, much of current agricultural methods are destructive to the earth. The Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s ought to have taught the US government to rethink her agricultural policies, but very little has changed.
Part of the problem in agricultural land misuse is our current monetary dynamic of interest. As long as the principle of "money today is infinitely better than money tomorrow," (due to interest) men will always adopt short-sighted economic methods. For an average farmer (growing cash-crops) it is eminently more logical to deplete the land with least cost option, have the money earn interest, and purchase another farm with the money he extracted from the first farm.
Thanks, and you're exactly right! A lot of that has to do with the way we subsidize and insure crops today- it's far easier to do for a monocropped, non-rotating field. There's a ton of bureaucratic inertia preventing us from moving forwards on the problem- that being said, there are a few awesome small farmers out there that are doing it anyways.
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Good information, something I had never even thought about. Thanks for the research and the post.
Glad you liked it!
Permaculture methods, a reduction in mono-culture, and rotating fields with rotationally grazing animals is a great start.
Moving to hydroponic and aquaponic grows in vertical farming is another great option.
I take pride in composting, to at least help remediate the soil in my own yard. The food waste we throw out could all be used to improve soils.
And for god's sake, lets stop planting so much soy and corn.
Soy and corn on their own- corn actually works just fine when planted in a multicrop field with groundcover crops and nitrogen fixers. It was a staple of Mesoamerican agriculture.
Wow, it's amazing it doesn't get more coverage. I guess 'dirt' isn't a sexy enough subject for the media. Thanks for bringing it to us dude.