Posted on 06/05/2022 8:36:57 AM PDT by American Number 181269513
Soil can be considered black gold, and we’re running out it.
The United Nations declared soil finite and predicted catastrophic loss within 60 years.
“There are places that have already lost all of their topsoil,” Jo Handelsman, author of “A World Without Soil,” and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told CNBC.
The impact of soil degradation could total $23 trillion in losses of food, ecosystem services and income worldwide by 2050, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
“We have identified 10 soil threats in our global report … Soil erosion is number one because it’s taking place everywhere,” Ronald Vargas, the secretary of the Global Soil Partnership and Land and Water Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, told CNBC.
According to the U.N., soil erosion may reduce up to 10% of crop yields by 2050, which is the equivalent of removing millions of acres of farmland.
And when the world loses soil, food supply, clean drinking water and biodiversity are threatened.
What’s more, soil plays an important role in mitigating climate change.
Soil contains more than three times the amount of carbon in the earth’s atmosphere and four times as much in all living plants and animals combined, according to the Columbia Climate School.
“Soil is the habitat for over a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity. Each gram of soil contains millions of cells of bacteria and fungi that play a very important role in all ecosystem services,” Reza Afshar, chief scientist at the regenerative agriculture research farm at the Rodale Institute, told CNBC.
The Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, is known as the birthplace of modern organic agriculture.
“The projects we do here are centered around improving and rebuilding soil health. We have a farming system trial that’s been running for 42 years,” Afshar said. It is the longest-running side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional grain cropping systems in North America.
The research has found regenerative, organic agriculture produces yields up to 40% higher during droughts, can earn farmers greater profits and releases 40% fewer carbon emissions than conventional agricultural practices.
How’s that possible? The Rodale Institute says it all starts with the soil.
“When we talk about healthy soil, we are talking about all aspects of the soil, chemical, physical and biological that should be in a perfect status to be able to produce healthy food for us,” Afshar said.
It’s critical, of course, because the world relies on soil for 95% of our food production. But that’s just the beginning of its importance.
“The good news is that we know enough to get to work,” Dianna Bagnall, a research soil scientist at the Soil Health Institute, told CNBC.
Now it appears to be part of a wider plan.
Food for thee and not for me.
I just pray that Patriots remember the people at CNBC and other such Commie propaganda sources when the SHTF. They will need to be held accountable. Please bookmark this article.
The next crisis after climate change
According to the U.N., soil erosion may reduce up to 10% of crop yields by 2050
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“May.” More panic porn.
I remember learning about the dustbowl and soil conservation in 6th grade.
Another BS UN statement
Now there is a dirt shortage. Is there anything democrats can’t screw up?
Relax Earth never stops composting ,LOL
Never heard of this before. Figures.
I can go to Lowe's and buy top soil all day long...
So true. My compost bin says so.
This part reminded me of something....
Gasoline, food, soil...what’s next, air?
The last sentences are the good news. One has to read the entire reports to get the gist of things.
“I can go to Lowe’s and buy top soil all day long...”
You use garden soil for top soil?
Funny how this alleged “climate change” doesn’t seem to adversely impact the number of dumbasses blathering their nonsense on the planet...
While the UN has found "soil finite," I see the globalist excrement infinite.
I saw bags of dirt for sale at Walmart. In the toy aisle next to the Tonka trucks. 2 cups of dirt in a bag. I know dirt and soil are not the same but living in rural Oklahoma I can’t imagine paying $ for play dirt.
Eroded soil has to go someplace.
I call BS on this “soil shortage! All around our area farmland is being bought and thousands of acres of trees are being cut down...for solar panels! They are everywhere and we are losing good fertile acres by the thousands! Isn’t green and progressive great?
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