The soil erosion mechanisms have an effect on how much water the soil can hold, how rapidly water flows over the soil, and its movement below surface. Soil erosion adversely hinders the growth of plants, agricultural yields, quality of water, and recreation.

Running water is the leading cause of soil erosion, because water is abundant and has a lot of power. Wind is also a leading cause of soil erosion because wind can pick up soil and blow it far away. Activities that remove vegetation, disturb the ground, or allow the ground to dry are activities that increase erosion.

The impacts of erosion on cropping lands include: reduced ability of the soil to store water and nutrients. exposure of subsoil, which often has poor physical and chemical properties. higher rates of runoff, shedding water and nutrients otherwise used for crop growth.

Erosion, compaction, nutrient imbalance, pollution, acidification, water logging, loss of soil biodiversity and increasing salinity have been affecting soil across the globe, reducing its ability to support plant life and so grow crops.

Soil degradation leads directly to water pollution by sediments and attached agricultural chemicals from eroded fields. Soil degradation indirectly causes water pollution by increasing the erosive power of runoff and by reducing the soil’s ability to hold or immobilize nutrients and pesticides.

In the US alone, soil on cropland is eroding 10 times faster than it can be replenished. If we continue to degrade the soil at the rate we are now, the world could run out of topsoil in about 60 years, according to Maria-Helena Semedo of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

The answer is that soil takes many years to create, but it can be destroyed in almost no time at all. With the loss of soil goes man’s ability to grow food crops and graze animals, to produce fibre and forests.

A rough calculation of current rates of soil degradation suggests we have about 60 years of topsoil left. Some 40% of soil used for agriculture around the world is classed as either degraded or seriously degraded – the latter means that 70% of the topsoil, the layer allowing plants to grow, is gone.

loamy soils

Probably that state has the best soil for that crop. Nebraska probably the best for corn, Iowa for the corn/soybean rotation, Kansas for wheat, Georgia for peaches.

Illinois

We grow more than 230 different types of fruits of vegetables [1] worth approximately $46 billion annually. California’s Great Central Valley is, one of if not, the most productive Class 1 soil in the world; it is the best soil for farming in the United States period.

State Rankings

Punjab Punjab

India

Laterite

California

Texas

As we learned while reading Take Part’s recent article on food myths, the answer is no. Although it seems like we should be able to sustain ourselves, the truth of the matter is that we can’t.

Key Takeaways

• Four of the world’s dominant food-producing countries—China, India, the U.S., and Brazil—also rank in the top ten countries in the world for total geographic land area.
• The U.S. has long been a superpower in food markets, and it is still one of the world’s largest food exporters.