Since the beginning of agriculture, there have been progressive loss & degradation of soils all around the globe.
“Humanity is losing 0.3 percent of our global food production each year to soil erosion and degradation and 30 percent every 100 years,” according to a United Nations report on soil.
Loss & degradation of soils have even played a part in the decline of civilizations--for example, Mesopotamia, classical Greece, and ancient Rome.
“It also caused the downfall of the Piedmont region of the southeastern United States as a leading agricultural producer, which it had been in colonial America.”
It turns out that the PLOW is the villain!
What?!?!
That’s right---plowing exposes soil to erosion; disturbing the soil degrades organic matter, the natural biology of the soil. Farmers have to keep feeding the degraded soil more and more fertilizer.
The answer lies in not plowing (“no till”), keeping soils covered year round using cover crops, and rotating diverse crops in the fields.
These are the principles of Regenerative Agriculture, which “stimulates soil microbial activity, the “soil food web,” ....”to build fertile soils, which in turn produce healthy plants.”
