Eroding the base of civilization

Excerpt

CROPLANDS are the foundation not only of agriculture but of civilization itself. When soils are eroded and crops are poorly nourished, people are often undernourished as well. Thus, the loss of soil is in some ways the most serious of the threats civilization faces. Degraded biological systems can usually recover if given the opportunity, but an inch of top-soil lost through erosion may take nature centuries to replace.

Since mid-century, pressures on the earth's croplands have mounted. Growing populations demand more land not only for food production but for other purposes as well. Even as the need for cropland expands, more and more farmland is being put to nonagricultural uses. Worse, the most productive croplands are the most likely to be converted to nonfarm uses.

As the eighties unfold, humanity faces a worldwide shortage of productive cropland, acute land hunger in many countries, and escalating prices for farmland almost everywhere. In a world with no excess agricultural capacity, the continuing loss of prime farmland anywhere can drive food prices upward everywhere. For most people rising food prices are the most immediate, most disastrous fact of inflation, fueling political instability with desperation.

Historical expansion of cropland …