Alianza Mundial por el Suelo

Agricultural policy: Govern our soils

Call for voluntary international agreement to protect the ground beneath our feet from erosion and degradation

26/11/2015

Luca Montanarella calls for a voluntary international agreement to protect the ground beneath our feet from erosion and degradation.

 

Eighty years ago, in 1935, soils were for the first time officially recognized as a limited national resource that should be responsibly managed. In the wake of the catastrophic erosion that caused the infamous Dust Bowl drought, the US government passed the Soil Conservation Act. “The history of every Nation is eventually written in the way in which it cares for its soil,” wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt's act was largely successful. It encouraged farmers to apply sustainable management practices — such as tilling less, installing windbreaks, and planting along slope contours. Between 1982 and 2007, soil erosion in US cropland declined by 43%.

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