Earth

“A cup of fertile soil is more crowded than New York, Tokyo, and Calcutta combined. Billions of micro-organisms, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and nematodes live in a handful of soil, as well as bugs and insects. And these folks are busy, eating and digesting the organic matter in your soil transforming it into life-sustaining nutrients for your plants. Soils of farmlands used for growing crops are being carried away by water and wind erosion at rates between 10 and 40 times the rate of soil formation and between 50 and 10,000 times soil erosion rates on forested land.” “In the past 200 years the average topsoil depth in the United States has declined from twenty-three centimeters to fifteen centimeters.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Support organic farming and conservation tillage methods. Conservation tillage systems also benefit farmers by reducing fuel consumption and soil compaction.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Visit The Soils Society and NRCS Soils.