Vanishing topsoil foreshadows impending food crisis. - 12 Feb 2010  
email to friend  E-mail this to a Friend    Print

A study presented by Professor John Crawford at the recent Carbon Farming Conference held in New South Wales, Australia, focused on the dangerous loss of topsoil throughout the world.

Some 75 billion tons are being eroded annually through a combination of agricultural mismanagement and climate change effects, with livestock grazing  also causing significant losses.

In the United States alone, 54% of pasture land is overgrazed, with more than 100 tons of topsoil being lost per hectare per year. At the current rates, experts say that recent events such as the major dust storms in Australia will become more and more frequent, with a vanishing of the resource within decades.

Saying that restorative actions are needed now, Professor Crawford recommended a combination of practices, including organic farming methods to help rebuild and replace carbon in the soil.

Dr. Crawford and associates, we are grateful for your research that highlights the value of this imperiled natural resource. May such information motivate more and more people to adopt lifestyles that protect the Earth for ourselves and future generations.

Supreme Master Ching Hai, who frequently reminds of humanity’s crucial role in environmental conservation, spoke of the benefits of organic vegan farming during an interview for the September 2009 edition of The House Magazine.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There are so many benefits from organic vegan farming, as well as many benefiting parties. First, for the farmers, organic vegan farming is productive, saving 37% more energy and even more water than conventional farming methods.

Next, there are environmental benefits, like the topsoil stays and proves better at withstanding floods and hurricanes. Furthermore, organic vegan farming will halt the runoff of chemical fertilizers that have created monstrous dead zones in the ocean.

Organic soil matter also absorbs CO2 so effectively that the Rodale Institute calls organic vegan farming a powerful strategy to reduce global warming, by up to 40% of all CO2 emissions now in the atmosphere.
Finally, we all benefit from better health because it’s free of toxins and abundant in nutrients, without the genetic modification and cancer-causing pesticides.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/6828878/Britain-facing-food-crisis-as-worlds-soil-vanishes-
in-60-years.html
http://carbonfarming.blogspot.com/
http://cspinet.org/EatingGreen/pdf/arguments3.pdf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/24/topsoil-farming-defra