According to a number of reports, soil degradation/erosion affects 38% of the world’s cropland (~ 5 billion acres). Putting that into perspective, that represents about 15% of the Earth’s total land area or an area larger than the United States and Mexico combined.
We tend to think of soil as a renewable resource – one that is constantly being replenished by decaying matter. But worldwide trends are showing that soil erosion rates are exceeding the rate of replenishment.
The United States is losing soil 10 times faster — China and India 30 to 40 times faster — than the natural replenishment rate.
It takes approximately 500 years to replace 1 inch of topsoil lost to erosion. The minimal soil depth for agricultural production is 6 inches.
Read through the first 2 articles then watch the Trailer for the ‘Living Soil’ documentary.
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/soil-health-agriculture-trend-usda-000513/
https://theweek.com/articles/554677/america-running-soil
If you want to watch it (not required) I have also posted the full video.
I want you to focus your discussion post on the impact of soil degradation/erosion as it relates to agriculture production both current and future.
Think about how this issue is impacting the cost and access to products–positive and negative.
Also, how have shifts in agriculture trends–past and present–caused some of the effects
We are experiencing world-wide a shift from small scale to large scale agriculture as well as a shift from rural populations to more urban populations.
How do we manage this in context to a growing population? As of right now, the World population is ~7.7 billion. By the year 2050, it is expected to be ~10 billion and growing to 11-12 billion by 2100.
