Soil SOLUTIONS

By practicing more sustainable farming techniques, we can bring back the rich topsoil of the preindustrial era.

- DARRICK BYERS

Humans have a long history with soil. In the not-too distant past, our relationship with the land, mediated through technology such as the plow, took a turn for the worst. You have likely heard about the dust bowl, which originated in the ignorant combination of toolight plows and the consequential overuse of the disc. This turned soil into a fine, powdered dust, perfectly primed for depleting winds to sweep away vast swaths of rich, dry soil, nutrients and organic matter. This history brings up legitimate questions about how we humans define progress.

The reality of our progress is that we often overlook the complexity of the ecosystems that we depend on, we too narrowly define problems that "need" to be solved, create "solutions" for said problems, and that process typically creates even more problems, usually disturbing a systemic balance that takes generations to heal. In some states, the current top soil loss and nutrient deficiency will take 200 more years with zero soil loss and sustained phosphate application in order to return the soil to a state equal to that of how it existed prior to westward expansion.

We have a lot of work to do. It can be done. It is being done, but it brings into question our human behavior, what we value now and our ability to sustainably plan for the future. In places such as North Dakota, some farmers have been practicing more sustainable farming techniques with great success. For example, farmers have seen topsoil levels return to depths of 10 inches with organic matter in the 5% to 7% range. This has taken 40 years of soil-generating system is almost completely broken and topsoil reserves nearly depleted. Since we depend on soil, and we intentionally harvested the great buffalo herds, it’s obvious to me that we humans have volunteered as stewards of soil health. This is where permaculture practices can help, not just with topsoil regeneration but in cultivating a healthy soil ecosystem at all levels.