Excerpt
Agriculture depends upon soil to serve as a medium for plant growth, as a reservoir of nutrients and water, and as a filter to detoxify chemical inputs. Soil of high quality contributes to the production of abundant, high quality food and fiber. Unfortunately though, poor management can exhaust soil.
Historically, soil has been degraded by poor management. Soil loss by erosion (wind, water, and tillage) has been, and continues to be, a major threat to soil sustain-ability around the world. Intensive tillage has been a traditional agricultural practice, but it is clear that it is not appropriate in many areas of North America, because it contributes to a high risk of erosion and losses of soil organic C and other nutrients. Soil productivity is also threatened by salinization from irrigation, contamination of soil with heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial byproducts, and suburban encroachment. Although soil resists degradation from some of these pressures, there is a point at which soil simply becomes exhausted and cannot continue to function normally. Economically, even a small loss of soil productivity could be detrimental for farmers operating on a small profit margin.
Management systems are needed to improve the quality of soil and restoresoil. There is no better time to make those investments than now. …
Footnotes
Alan J. Franzluebbers is an ecologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Southern Piedmont Conservation Research Unit in Watkinsville, Georgia. Ronald F. Follett is a supervisory soil scientist at the USDA-ARS Soil-Plant-Nutrient Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. Jane M.F. Johnson is a soil scientist at the USDA-ARS North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory in Morris, Minnesota. Mark A. Liebig is a soil scientist at the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, North Dakota. Edward G. Gregorich is a soil biochemist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Ontario. Timothy B. Parkin is a microbiologist at the USDA-ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Jeffrey L. Smith is a soil scientist at the USDA-ARS Land Management and Water Conservation Research Unit in Pullman, Washington. Stephen J. Del Grosso is a soil scientist at the USDA-ARS Soil-Plant-Nutrient Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. Michael D. Jawson is a former national program leader at the USDA-ARS and is currently director at the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Dean A. Martens was a soil scientist (deceased 2005) at the USDA-ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona.
- Copyright 2006 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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