Topsoil Crisis

Disappearing dirt rivals global warming as an environmental threat

The planet is getting skinned.

While many worry about the potential consequences of atmospheric warming, a few experts are trying to call attention to another global crisis quietly taking place under our feet.

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"Globally, it's clear we are eroding soils at a rate much faster than they can form," said John Reganold, a soils scientist at Washington State University. "It's hard to get people to pay much attention to this because, frankly, most of us take soil for granted."

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More planetary bad news...

yes, spot on, i posted something very similar about 2 years ago, see

www.abovetopsecret.com...

that said, do you see a conflict of interest wrt net CO2 reduction goals and maintaining soil fertility? i am thinking along the lines of dedicated fuel crops and their contribution to soil depletion.

reply to post by Long Lance


That is an outstanding point. I wonder if that was contemplated in the rate of depletion calculated by the experts.

It's amazing how much peril we face in the near future. Everywhere you look, it seems some great danger looms before us.

I hope for the best, but fear the worst...

I see in excess of 1000 individual soil profiles every year. I have seen over 7000 soil profiles during my career. The deepest top soil horizon I have seen is around 30". The deepest A horizons are typically found on the tops of tall mountains and located in either swamp situations, poorly drained soils or drainage ways.

I rarely see top soil deeper than 8". Farmers are raping the land but in my area most of the damage was done over 50 years ago. The USDA NRCS is making great strides in improving farming practices in the United States.

Well, last year I wrecked many new plants with the soil I purchased at Walmart. When it was watered it became like a hard crust of dry clay. Nothing you could do to change the composition. I tossed it outside into an herb garden and it just never would compost, I hads to remove it and throw it away. When I told Walmart they said, yes everyone has returned it or made the same complaint. The only soil they could sell was miracle grow that would not have the same effect. There was nothing they could do about it as they do not order, they just stock whatever comes in. I will never attempt that again. This year I buy from the Amish.

reply to post by antar


I work in a garden center and I can tell you with some confidence that all "top soil" is probably not top soil.
I would avoid Walmart, Home Depot and Loew's for top soil.

I have had some luck bringing the soil in front of my house back to life.
A pin oak, years of neglect and inorganic fertilzer has killed the soil. It is like dust. It won't hold water and plants pull out becasue it won;t hold roots.

We found a product on the Internat called Nature's Magic.
It's liquid humic acid and fish emulsion.
It seems to work. Although it will take at least another year or two to make a big difference.

Never again will I buy an inorganic fertilizer for my yard.
Sorry Scotts. Sorry MiracleGro.

well its not like its vanishing its just getting washed away to be brought to other areas, we have farms that lost topsoil but others gain it by wind and erosion from other farms. when we dredge the drainage ditches we reclaim much of the silt and organics lost from erosion. most of the "Rape" done to the lad was done before anythign was known of soil conservation. it makes no sense using practices that deplete useable soil, thats why most all farmers care more about the land then the "tree huggers".

True some farmers do care but others don't understand that cultivating land next to a stream allows runoff to enter the stream. Riparian buffers are a must.

This issue has been know to mankind for the last 80 years, already predicted by Mr. Viktor Schauberger himself.

There are many reasons for this to happen and I recommend, people with a genuine interest in this life-important topic to read:

"The Fertile Earth" by V. Schauberger - translated and edited by Callum Coats - ISBN 1-85860-060-x

To name a few concerns:

Deep ploughing - destroying natural capilars of earth
Iron plaughing - produces rust, witch lays like a film on water, creates electrolytical effects
Clear felling - Removes the forest, witch under normal surcomstances would help buildt and destribute nutrients to the suroundings
Artificial fertilizers - Gives only limited nutrients back to the earth compared to organic fertilizers

and much much more.... this is a complex problem, witch needs major changes to be turned around.

Ecological organic farms in Denmark have succesfully turned the process around, and are now producing more crops than artificially grown fields, and the products harvested hold a much higher number of nutrients. Further more the crops become naturally more resistent to damaging factors and increase plant and insect diversity in the surroundings.

We need to demand healthy natural organic produced food! If more people would demand this, then they would have to start producing more of it.

reply to post by loam


loam,

To fix a topsoil problem I suggest you check out permaculture .

I've mentioned how we can turn the worldwide problem into a solution.

But here is one plant that will help in desert areas where its native.



The Neem tree

That is just one example of a plant making a huge impact on a human settlement.

In permaculture, there is not one main crop. The farmer uses polyculture and smaller, but more diverse yields.

More food stuffs and variety versus same food every day for the whole year round.

What would you pick?

Each house could be self-sufficient with little to no expense to retrofit.

We have diesel automobiles that can run off peanut oil, hemp oil, alcohol, bio diesel, algae oil, switchgrass, ethanol, and I'm sure others yet we haven't figured out how to release our dependency on oil?

How in the world? No!!!

That does not make sense. How much money are the oil companies making? And how much are they paying our politicians to suppress new technology? And how badly are the scientists brutalize for new discoveries?

What happened to the water car?

We have technology far superior to what we see in the mainstream for "Homeland Security" and "Defense" purposes, but all I see are new "Weapons of Mass Destruction."

What happened to Dennis Kucinich and his "DOP" (Department of Peace) ? Why did he drop out?

Troubled times...

We can act or not.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


i was losing sod on my side and back yard and was told to put a thin layer of top soil and water. well i purchased 30 bags from Walmart. brought them home and removed them to the parts of the yard that I needed them. I opened all the bags and began to make several piles to come back and rake later. when raking it was then i noticed all the topsoil had little chips in them like some kind of bark. now my whole yard is full of the crap. i complained at walmart and the cashier in the garden center told me I was the only one who had complained. Yeah right! she works 24/7 or was told to say that. Walmart sucks! some kind of chinese topsoil I imagine.

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