Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Under natural conditions, it takes hundreds of years to produce healthy topsoil. Instead of assisting and supporting those conditions, industrial agriculture is geared toward rapidly depleting the healthy topsoil that already exists. If nothing changes, what can we expect from the next several decades?
Sources:
1. Jang WS et al. The hidden costs of land degradation in US maize agriculture. Earth’s Future 2021;9(2). doi:10.1029/2020EF001641
2. International Atomic Energy Agency. Soil erosion control. Accessed online May 29, 2024. iaea.org/topics/soil-erosion-control
3. United Nations University. "World loses trillions of dollars worth of nature's benefits each year due to land degradation." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 September 2015. sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150915090404.htm.
4. Kopittke PM, Menzies NW, Wang P, McKenna BA, Lombi E. Soil and the intensification of agriculture for global food security. Environ Int. 2019;132:105078. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.105078
Under natural conditions, it takes hundreds of years to produce healthy topsoil. Instead of assisting and supporting those conditions, industrial agriculture is geared toward rapidly depleting the healthy topsoil that already exists. If nothing changes, what can we expect from the next several decades?
Sources:
1. Jang WS et al. The hidden costs of land degradation in US maize agriculture. Earth’s Future 2021;9(2). doi:10.1029/2020EF001641
2. International Atomic Energy Agency. Soil erosion control. Accessed online May 29, 2024. iaea.org/topics/soil-erosion-control
3. United Nations University. "World loses trillions of dollars worth of nature's benefits each year due to land degradation." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 September 2015. sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150915090404.htm.
4. Kopittke PM, Menzies NW, Wang P, McKenna BA, Lombi E. Soil and the intensification of agriculture for global food security. Environ Int. 2019;132:105078. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.105078
