Vanishing topsoil will lead to food shortage

• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2010-07-10 18:27

  Originally published July 10 2010
  Vanishing topsoil will lead to food crisis
  by David Gutierrez, staff writer
  
  (NaturalNews) All the world's topsoil is set to vanish within the next century if current patterns do not change, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Sydney and presented at the Carbon Farming conference.
  
  "It could be as little as 60 years and that is a scary figure because it is not obvious that we have time to reverse decline and still meet future demands for food," researcher John Crawford said. "It is not an exaggeration to say that soil is the most precious resource we have got, and ... [we] are not up to the task of securing it for our children, never mind our grandchildren."
  
  The soil-depleting effects of chronic mismanagement, including overuse of plowing, overapplication of synthetic fertilizers, poor erosion control and unsustainable farming (such as in former tropical rainforests), are being exacerbated by global warming and development. Coupled with a growing world population, this poses a recipe for food disaster.
  
  The study found that in Australia, soil is being lost five times faster than it is regenerating through natural processes. In the United States, it is being lost 10 times faster. In Europe it is being lost 17 times faster, and in China, an astonishing 57 times faster.
  
  In September, Sydney, Australia experienced its worst dust storm in 70 years.
  
  According to Crawford, restoring soil requires improved management techniques such as minimizing plowing and allowing soil to lie fallow with cover crops. The United Kingdom has introduced an initiative encouraging farmers to protect soil through methods including using less fertilizer.
  
  Yet it may take decades for these efforts to bear fruit, and the rate of soil loss may still outstrip even this accelerated renewal.
  
  Loss of topsoil has significant implications for global food supplies and prices, which are already reeling from rising populations and changing climates. In 2008 and 2009, grain shortages and record high prices led to civil unrest in more than a dozen countries.
  
  Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/6828878/Britain-facing-food-crisis-as-worlds-soil-vanishes-in-60-years.html

  
  
  Link to article: Vanishing topsoil will lead to food crisis
• Hiccup wrote on 2010-07-10 18:29
  :I I'm skinny nuff kthx.
  
  
  Aw shi- I'm the first to go D:
• Lan wrote on 2010-07-10 18:30
  Oh shi- I hope I'm dead by then >_>
• Zid wrote on 2010-07-10 18:37
  Either we starve, or expect to see solar-powered, synthetic food...
  
  And giant, mutated killer vegetables at war with humanity sometime in the future.
• Pocoyo wrote on 2010-07-10 18:38
  Yay! We can finnaly get rid of Bieber-boy here :D.
  
  Another yay for a post being about Australia (sort of...)~
  
  BTTI - Oh noes!
• Spartaaaaa wrote on 2010-07-10 20:09

  Quote from Lan;88254:

  Oh shi- I hope I'm dead by then >_>

  
  
  Wait... you want to die to avoid death? Confused. ~nyoron
• Lan wrote on 2010-07-10 20:20

  Quote from Spartaaaaa;88370:

  Wait... you want to die to avoid death? Confused. ~nyoron

  
  
  If I'm dead I don't have to know the pain of starvation o_o
• Kueh wrote on 2010-07-10 21:09
  ^In other words 'yes' then?
• Osayidan wrote on 2010-07-10 21:33
  I thought it was possible, and more productive, to grow vegetables and stuff in water that has nutrients in it.
  Obviously things like trees won't work so well with that, but almost any vegetable that can grow in the ground itself can be grown in water. So the part about it starving the world is exaggerated since technology will keep up with it.
  
  Even when we have more food than we need all the third world countries are starving anyways.
• Lan wrote on 2010-07-10 21:42

  Quote from Osayidan;88444:

  I thought it was possible, and more productive, to grow vegetables and stuff in water that has nutrients in it.
  Obviously things like trees won't work so well with that, but almost any vegetable that can grow in the ground itself can be grown in water. So the part about it starving the world is exaggerated since technology will keep up with it.
  
  Even when we have more food than we need all the third world countries are starving anyways.

  
  
  Hydroponics?