The Connection Between Soil Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture

Soil erosion and its effects on crop production have been of concern to agricultural scientists since the turn of the century and particularly since the beginning of extensive land conservation during World War I. In 1940, between the clouds of the Dust Bowl and WWII and before the widespread use of modern fertilizers, H. H. Bennett wrote: Examined in the light of scientific knowledge, soil depletion is no simple process. Crops gradually remove the elements of fertility from the soil; methods of tillage and rotation have an important effect upon soil structure; and erosion by wind or water removes the entire body of the soil. US agriculture became more industrialized and grain production intensified in the early 1950s and soil loss from wind and water became an endemic problem nationwide. Soil quality issues overlap many of the issues of sustainable agriculture. Soil quality likely offers the most promise for close linkage of soil conservation principles and sustainable agriculture principles.