Soil - should we be worried?

[The Ruminant]

http://world.time.com/2012/12/14/what-if-the-worlds-soil-runs-out/

 

[The Ruminant]

The first paragraph:

A rough calculation of current rates of soil degradation suggests we have about 60 years of topsoil left. Some 40% of soil used for agriculture around the world is classed as either degraded or seriously degraded – the latter means that 70% of the topsoil, the layer allowing plants to grow, is gone. Because of various farming methods that strip the soil of carbon and make it less robust as well as weaker in nutrients, soil is being lost at between 10 and 40 times the rate at which it can be naturally replenished. Even the well-maintained farming land in Europe, which may look idyllic, is being lost at unsustainable rates.

 

[The Ruminant]

Interestingly, today I heard a tractor driver bemoaning the fact that the 13 year old stewardship margins are significantly higher than the cultivated parts of the farm.

Hmmm.....

 

[Cowabunga]

Since some areas of my farm have only ever had six inches of soil above rock, if it wasn't for the fact that still have six inches and where I've ploughed uphill over the years have more depth there than ever before in living memory, maybe I'd tend to agree with this probable 'ecowarrior environmentalist'. But since it is how it is, it is rubbish.

So there is only sixty years before mankind runs out of soil and, by implication, is starved out of existence? Yeah right!

 

[grumpy]

you worry to much we are all going to die and the world will end despite what man does or doesn't do,just put trivial things like soil structure to the back of your mind and live for the moment.

 

[grumpy]

Since some areas of my farm have only ever had six inches of soil above rock, if it wasn't for the fact that still have six inches and where I've ploughed uphill over the years have more depth there than ever before in living memory, maybe I'd tend to agree with this probable 'ecowarrior environmentalist'. But since it is how it is, it is rubbish.

So there is only sixty years before mankind runs out of soil and, by implication, is starved out of existence? Yeah right!

they will be making food in a petri dish 60 years from now and farmers will go the way of the miners.science is great.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Actually I'm not too worried.

I think we're more aware than ever.

 

[Feldspar]

they will be making food in a petri dish 60 years from now and farmers will go the way of the miners.science is great.

I wonder what will happen in the meantime before this petri dish food growing arrives.

There are several much heralded new technologies such as precision farming, hybrid varieties and new generations of fungicides which promise to improve the status quo and yet we do not seem to be making very great yield advances on farm in most things (except, for example, sugar beet).

Whilst we wait for the silver bullet we have an increasing world population who are becoming increasing more wealthy thus placing pressure on food production alongside more stringent environmental controls - the result being that we must produce more from less for the time being. It seems that an unhealthy soil requires more inputs to produce less food which is the reverse of what is required, whereas healthy soil does the opposite (think of Allan Savory's TED talk) in line with tomorrow's requirements.

As you write, what's the point if the silver bullet is on its way? Two reasons: firstly, a lot of problems and harm can occur in the 60 years whilst we wait and, secondly, that silver bullet may never come. You say science is great; yes it is but its not all that predictable. One analogy would be the advice to forget the looming energy crisis and associated power supply problems because science will step in by harnessing the power of fusion. The problem here is that it is a well known joke in the particle physics community that the problem with fusion is that it's always 50 years away from being solved. Parallel points could be made about affordable and timely nuclear power.

 

[Jim Bullock]

I think we have totally ruined many of our soils over the last 25 years....We have accelerated the decomposition of the SOM through the use of Ammoniun Nitrate ferilisers and excessive cultivation...we havn't replaced much of the P & K that we have removed as it hasn't been economically viable..now we are left with soils that probably will not grow anything..that will make a positve return...time to get back to basics...but basics do not pay the rent or other overhead costs..

 

[Feldspar]

Since some areas of my farm have only ever had six inches of soil above rock, if it wasn't for the fact that still have six inches and where I've ploughed uphill over the years have more depth there than ever before in living memory, maybe I'd tend to agree with this probable 'ecowarrior environmentalist'. But since it is how it is, it is rubbish.

So there is only sixty years before mankind runs out of soil and, by implication, is starved out of existence? Yeah right!

Perhaps if you were an African living on the verge of existence and facing dwindling supplies of suitable grazing for your cattle due to increasing desertification you might take a different viewpoint?

 

[roscoe erf]

doomed we are all doomed

 

[spanners]

I hope to be dead by then, future generations can sort their own shyte out

 

[grumpy]

Perhaps if you were an African living on the verge of existence and facing dwindling supplies of suitable grazing for your cattle due to increasing desertification you might take a different viewpoint?

The Africans have been living on the edge of existence from when time began mostly for being backward.well we originated from them but that aside gm could save them but the pseudo intellectual hate gm so they will continue to starve.

 

[grumpy]

I hope to be dead by then, future generations can sort their own shyte out

Pete Townsend penned that but he collects his pension now.

 

[Feldspar]

I hope to be dead by then, future generations can sort their own shyte out

Do you think it's fair that they should sort your "shyte" out too though?

I have comic visions of a father's bequests to his children. Upon death the children receive each a brown box containing a large turd with a simple note contained within which reads, "My shyte is now your shyte. May you be truly thankful."

 

[Cowabunga]

Perhaps if you were an African living on the verge of existence and facing dwindling supplies of suitable grazing for your cattle due to increasing desertification you might take a different viewpoint?

If Auntie had balls she'd be Uncle.
Do you know such an African whose cattle have dwindling grazing due to desertification or is this just a hypothetical fictional African whose welfare you are so concerned about?
Perhaps you'd better get out there to educate the ignorant natives before it's too late for them.

 

[Feldspar]

If Auntie had balls she'd be Uncle.
Do you know such an African whose cattle have dwindling grazing due to desertification or is this just a hypothetical fictional African?

Actually I do. I spent a while in Tanzania last year. One particularly memorable rain storm saw me sheltering in a Tanzanian family's mud hut for three hours. Turns out they spoke quite good English and the above picture was painted with some considerable vividity. No joke.

 

[Cowabunga]

I do hope you educated them on how to conserve their soil so that it lasts longer than 60 years then.
I'm sure they appreciated the Englishman's wisdom.

 

[spanners]

Pete Townsend penned that but he collects his pension now.

But he is a fanny really,fake badass persona Keith moon was a genuine nutter

 

[blackbob]

Interestingly, today I heard a tractor driver bemoaning the fact that the 13 year old stewardship margins are significantly higher than the cultivated parts of the farm.

Hmmm.....

I wouldn't worry about it either, yes I've noticed that field margins do seem higher than the rest of the field but I reckon this is because the undisturbed soil will have a chance to build up more organic matter, and the lack of traffic on it will allow it to loosen. If the soil was really being depleted by erosion and degradation, then roads, buildings and stone walls (centuries old!) would all be higher than the fields; and ditches would repeatedly have to be deepened, rather than just cleaned out.
Having said that, when ploughing we do seem to bring up a little bit of subsoil each year, but I tend to think that's the field levelling out, rather than eroding away. That, and the tons of stones we have to remove..
So the topsoil may be depleting in other parts of the world, but not here