Soil is composed of varying mixtures of rocks, particles, water, air, living organism and nonliving matter. Soil is formed by slow decay of organic matter and by the weathering of rocks. The part of the soil that you often see is the top soil. It is usually dark in color which indicates that the soil is rich in humus content.
People as meat consumer permit agribusiness to continue using technological agriculture methods that may lead to erosion of topsoil. Based on research it can take to 500 to 100 years to create an inch of top soil. But due to current agricultural practices, the topsoil can wash away in a single heavy storm. Further statistics about soil erosion are staggering:
- Indirect cost of soil erosion, such as chemical fertilizers and water purification, amount that cost billion a year
- Worldwide, over 25 billion tons of topsoil from farmlands is being lost annually
- The global lost of topsoil is nearly that of our depleted oil supplies
- For every inch of topsoil lost, we produce six percent fewer crops
Most of us do not experience the effects of soil erosion directly. It makes more problems like in every inch of topsoil lost; we produce a six percent fewer crop, that's why we will see in the news that there is a crisis in rice in some part of the world especially in Asia. And also, if oil and utility prices go up, first you know about it, and you want to know why? And meanwhile you do what you can do to reduce your personal usage and eliminate any possible waste. When is the last time you hear someone complain about the rapid rate of erosion? Yet it constitutes a quite crisis that could lead to famine in some part of the world. While fertilizers may somewhat compensate for depletion or eroded soil, but it is cost a big amount.
