Saving the soil?

The land on which we live is made up of many types of areas. Some are fruitful and productive while some are too rigorous to do anything but enjoy their beauty. Of all the land in the world, how much can we use to produce the food we depend on? There is about 10% of the world where we can grow food. This land competes with society where we build our houses, schools, shopping malls and all the other places that we “can’t live without”. The best places to be are the same places where we used to grow food. Food production is moved to areas that must be modified; these modifications often cause the erosion of precious soil. Soil is created at a rate of about .4 tons/acre/year. This means we are rapidly losing the soil upon which our lives depend. How much soil do we really have? Even with these estimates, nobody knows exactly how much soil we have left now, or in the future.

Soil does more for us then just supporting the way we live. It tells the history of an area. It’s a good way to measure the health of local environments, and most of all…its just fun to play with. Here are some more links about soil. Other ways to learn about soil, if you're interested come find out about the USU soil judging team.