- Reviews current understanding of the mechanisms of soil erosion, focussing on water-based and wind-based erosion processes
- Considers the effectiveness of mitigation measures to reduce soil erosion, including buffer strips, zero/no-tillage and cover crops
- Addresses recent advances in techniques used to measure, predict, track and model soil erosion, including digital soil mapping and proximal instrumental techniques
It’s been suggested that around 12 million hectares of agricultural land is affected by soil
erosion each year – a process by which the top layer of soil is removed as a result of natural
forces such as water and wind.
And despite popular belief, it’s not just the soil that’s affected by soil erosion. In fact, it’s a
much wider critical environmental issue that threatens agricultural productivity, water quality and ecosystem health globally.
“If the degradation of the world’s soil reservoir continues, many have estimated that this
could lead to a 30% reduction in global food production by 2040,” says Francis Dodds, Editorial Director at Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing.
As the world grapples with the impacts of climate change and the challenge of feeding a rapidly growing population, understanding and mitigating the effects of soil erosion has never been more crucial.
Dr Manuel Seeger – a Senior Lecturer in the School of Regional and Environmental Sciences at the University of Trier in Germany – and a host of international experts tackle this challenge head on in their new book, Understanding and preventing soil erosion.
The book provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on understanding the mechanisms of soil erosion, as well as the best practices for measuring and modelling soil erosion risk in agricultural soil.
In recent years the true value of soil has been unearthed, with optimising soil health now a primary addition to the agendas of most (if not all) stakeholders across the agri-food supply chain, from farmers and growers, to policymakers and government officials.
However, preventing soil erosion – which in turn improves soil health – requires a multifaceted approach that includes both traditional and innovative practices.
For example, farmers and growers can add soil stabilizers to their soils to improve its physical properties and reduce the risk of erosion. Perhaps the most commonly recognised examples of soil stabilizers are organic and inorganic amendments such as gypsum, polymers and biochar which can enhance soil structure, maintain soil permeability to water and reduce soil susceptibility to crust formation.
No-till farming is another example of an effective strategy implemented by farmers to prevent soil erosion. No-till farming involves growing crops without disturbing the soil through tillage, which helps maintain soil structure, reduce risk of erosion and improve water infiltration.
“Use of techniques such as no-till allow maintenance of continuous crop residue and/or canopy cover of soil, which are arguably the most important and practical measures to reduce both water and wind erosion,” says Michael Kucera, formerly of the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.
“This is especially important to make farms and soils more resilient to more extreme drought and heavy rainfall events caused by climate change,” he adds.
As the effects of climate change continue to ripple throughout the agricultural sector, a greater understanding of soil erosion and how it can be prevented is absolutely vital to the longevity of agriculture and sustainable food production.
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