The soil resource

Excerpt

Yes, there is convincing evidence that “If the soil is destroyed, then our liberty of choice and action is gone, condemning this and future generations to needless privation and dangers.” These words from W. C. Lowder-milk (1953) highlighted the importance of the soil in the rise and fall of nations in his treatise, Conquest of the Land through Seven Thousand Years. Soil, a regenerative natural resource, is the foundation of a healthy, strong, and productive nation. Lowdermilk suggested that society (the Nation) also has responsibility for conserving the soil resource along with the land manager and owner. We only have to look at countries that lack the rich soil resources of ours to see the strife caused by shortages of wholesome food. Earlier, Aldo Leopold (1939b) wrote about the edaphic or ecologic view of land. He described a biotic pyramid with soils as the base or foundation layer on which all other biota rests. He (Leopold, 1939a) addressed the interrelationships of the land with society and the importance of harmony between nature and humans. He noted that when land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by the land, and when both end up …