Productivity Effects of Cropland Erosion in the United States

Productivity Effects of Cropland Erosion in the United States
Author: Pierre R. Crosson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2016-03-17
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1317310489

In the 1970’s, agriculture in the United States seemed to be booming. With an extra demand for crops, extra acres were taken on to increase production which was predicted to increase further with an ever-growing population. However, concerns were beginning to be raised over the adequacy of land for crops as potential croplands began to be converted into urban areas as well as the effects of soil erosion decreasing the quality of these croplands. Originally published in 1983, this study investigates the threats to crop productivity in the U.S. with a focus on human-made problems. This title will be of interest to students of environmental studies.

Shifting Ground

Shifting Ground
Author: Peter H. Lindert
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2000-10-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262263483

Peter Lindert evaluates environmental concerns about soil degradation in two very large countries—China and Indonesia—where anecdotal evidence has suggested serious problems. In this book Peter Lindert evaluates environmental concerns about soil degradation in two very large countries—China and Indonesia—where anecdotal evidence has suggested serious problems. Lindert does what no scholar before him has done: using new archival data sets, he measures changes in soil productivity over long enough periods of time to reveal the influence of human activity. China and Indonesia are good test cases because of their geography and history. China has been at the center of global concerns about desertification and water erosion, which it may have accelerated with intense agriculture. Most of Indonesia's lands were created by volcanoes and erosion, and its rapid deforestation and shifting slash-burn agriculture have been singled out for international censure. Lindert's investigation suggests that human mismanagement is not on average worsening the soil quality in China and Indonesia. Human cultivation lowers soil nitrogen and organic matter, but has offsetting positive effects. Economic development and rising incomes may even lead to better soil. Beyond the importance of Lindert's immediate findings, this book opens a new area of study—quantitative soil history—and raises the standard for debating soil trends.

Soil Conservation

Soil Conservation
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 327
Release: 1986-02-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309036755

Written by the foremost authorities in the field, this volume brings together the technical papers from which Volume 1 is drawn. The 10 papers and discussion from a National Research Council symposium cover such topics as soil erosion classification, evaluating how soil erosion damages productivity, calculating soil erosion, understanding ephemeral gully erosion, wind erosion, and the impact of range erosion on land use.

Climate Change and World Food Security

Climate Change and World Food Security
Author: Thomas E. Downing
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 653
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642610862

In the last half decade since sustainable development became a serious objective, what have we achieved? Are livelihoods more secure? Are nations wealthier and more resilient? Is environmental quality being restored or maintained? These are essential questions of development. Their answers are many, varied between communities and regions, even between individuals. Two years ago, in the aftermath of the Earth Summit and ratification of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, but before the first Conference of Parties, I participated in a panel at the inaugural Oxford Environment Conference on Climate Change and World Food Security. The panel vigorously reviewed issues of resilient development and food security. This book is a product of the Oxford Environment Conference. It takes the essential questions of sustainability as a starting point to focus on present food security and its future prospects in the face of climate change. Why is this book important? First, I believe our goals to end hunger are under threat. We know what to do in many respects, but fail to generate the finances and political will to change the structures that thrive on poverty. Second, I believe concern about the environment has become dangerously separated from the fundamental issues of human deprivation. Third, I believe climate change is a serious threat and I am dismayed at the way nations dither over how to control greenhouse gas emissions and mechanisms to meet the challenge of adverse climate impacts.