Topsoil can be considered a great gift of nature. It is easy however to forget the importance of topsoil. Topsoil is essential to life on Earth, and without it it is a fact that the world’s ecosystems would be irrefutably damaged forever. Many scientists have predicted that the lack of sun caused from any future nuclear world war could end life on Earth as we know it, and now, the erosion of the Earth’s topsoil could produce much the same effect.
It is a scary fact then that topsoil is eroding at an incredibly fast rate. Some scientific reports have estimated that topsoil on Earth could be completely iradicated within 60 years time without massive changes to help prevent this from happening.
farming practices that are intensive have been accused of being the primary reason for global topsoil erosion. The over use of ploughing and topsoil turning have been the main contributory factors associated with topsoil erosion. The breakdown of organic matter with this farming method is a primary problem that will prevent the topsoil from holding together. If the topsoil no longer contains the required amount of organic content then it’s likely to be washed away with the rains and blown away with the winds.
Large industrial sized farms have been proved to be the main culprit of topsoil erosion by scientific studies. feeding the world however still has to be a primary prupose for large farming practices, and this must be taken into account when any changes are actually made to the way that new farming methods are adopted. ’No Till’ agricultural techniques are being recommended by farming experts instead.
Unnecessary topsoil erosion is reduced by the use of ‘No Till’ farming methods. Instead, stubble and organic left from previous harvests are left in the topsoil to enrichen it. Of course, the additional organic material helps prevent erosion by the wind and the rain.
A concern however is that ‘No Till’ farming produces less crops in the same time and space of conventional farming methods. A balance needs to be found quickly however, otherwise we may be ruing the day that as a world population, we did nothing to protect one of our most essential resources.
