One of Mother Nature’s most incredible gifts is topsoil. It is easy however to forget the importance of topsoil. Topsoil is essential to life on Earth, and without it it is a fact that the world’s ecosystems would be irrefutably damaged forever. In much the same way that the scientists predict that nuclear war would block out the sun for many years putting an end to live as we know it on Earth, if topsoil disappeared, we could expect the same fate.
The facts are quite dreadful because topsoil is eroding at a lightning speed. Some scientific reports have estimated that topsoil on Earth could be completely iradicated within 60 years time without massive changes to help prevent this from happening.
farming practices that are intensive have been accused of being the primary reason for global topsoil erosion. The excessive use of ploughing and turning of the world’s vast expanses of topsoil have been the main cause. This practice can encourage the breakdown of the organic matter within the topsoil that holds it together. Without this organic content, the topsoil is more susceptible to being blown away by wind and washed away with rain waters.
There have been many studies that show heavy global farming practices are one of the primary causes of the erosion of topsoil. feeding the world however still has to be a primary prupose for large farming practices, and this must be taken into account when any changes are actually made to the way that new farming methods are adopted. Experts ion the workld of famring methods are recommending the uptake of ‘No Till’ farming which avoids the heavy use of ploughing and topsoil turning.
‘No Till’ prevents excessive topsoil agitation at all times. Topsoil benefits by the organic matter left in the ground after harvest, from wheat stubble and many other kinds of crops. The extra organic matter will stop the wind and rain from eroding the topsoil.
The only concern is that ‘No Till’ generates lesser crop yields, which is a worry for a world that is already debating how to contend with food shortages. To solve the problem of topsoil erosion a fine line needs to be drawn between current practices and new techniques – but doing nothing is no longer an option if we still want to protect our topsoil from further damage.
