Dlt—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 15,1982
Soil erosion lessens food, fiber production
HARRISBURG Many acres of
cropland aren’t producing food and
fiber at top capability, a USOA Soil
Conservation Service, spokesman
said. “This is because modern
conservation farming methods
aren't being used enough and
erosion is still occurmg at an
alarming rate.”
State Conservationist Graham T.
Munkittnck said, “Most of the
erosion we have in Pennsylvania
comes from 5.7 million acres of
cropland. Water causes this
erosion by moving soil from where
it was formed. This lost soil is
generally the most productive
topsoil.”
But, is erosion more serious now
than it was in the late 19405?
The answer is yes and no.
Erosion is separated into two
parts, gully erosion and sheet and
rill erosion. Gully erosion is
defined as channels cut in the soil
too deep to be smoothed out by
ordinary cultivation. Sheet erosion
is when continuous layers of soil
are removed by the combmed
actions of beating ram and
flowering water. Rill erosion is the
result of wearing very small
channels in the soil as water moves
down a slope.
“Gully erosion control has un
proved considerably, but sheet and
rill erosion are estimated to be 25
to 50 percent worse on farms
because of increased intensity of
cropping,” Munkittrick said. “On
farms where no conservation
measures are being used, the
erosion is estimated to be 400
percent worse.”
Man speeds up the erosion
process through many agricultural
and construction activities that
break up the soil surface and
remove protective vegetation. This
makes topsoil very susceptible to
water erosion. Planting and
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growing crops necessitates some
disturbance of the soil. In recent
years, questions have been asked
about how much plowing, disking
and cultivating is necessary to
produce a good crop.
To answer the question,
economic losses caused by erosion,
machinery use, problems of weeds
and insects, and the management
of water should be considered.
These all relate to solving erosion
problems
“During the last 30 years the
economic developments in
agriculture have prompted many
farmers to quit growing hay as a
part of a crop rotation plan,” said
John Spitzer, SCS agronomist.
“The shift has been to continuous
row crops (com and soybeans)
year after year. This practice can
lead to severe erosion
“The available modern methods
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of controlling erosion just aren’t
being used as much as they should
be. In fact, some terracing and
stripcropping are being removed,”
Spitzer said. “The increase m
erosion and resulting soil loss are
needless and wasteful since they
can be controlled by more modern
methods.”
Soil losses are measured in tons
per acre per year. SCS has
determined the average loss each
soil can tolerate and not reduce its
productive capacity. Some soil can
lose only 1 ton per acre each year,
while other soils can lose as much
as 5 tons without damage.
In 1977, the average loss rate was
about 5 tons per acre nationwide.
In Pennsylvania, it was 5.5 tons per
acre. Cropland in southeastern
Pennsylvania has an average soil
loss of 9 tons per acre annually. In
some areas the loss was 40 tons or
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more. The consequences of this
level of erosion are lost food and
fiber production, loss of valuable
soil nutrients, and poor water
quality in lakes and streams.
The most practical method
developed to date for bringing
erosion down to acceptable levels
is to leave crop residues on the soil
surface as a protective cover
through the entire year.
"The residue provides varying
amounts of protection depending
upon the kind left on the soil sur
face,” Spitzer said.
Tests show conservation tillage
methods can reduce erosion by 50
to 90 percent when leaving 3,000 to
6,000 pounds of cornstalk on the soil
surface under some conditions.
When slopes exceed 8 percent and
250 feet in length, conservation
tillage isjiot effective and needs to
be supported by terraces and other
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practices to control erosion.
“Going one step further,”
Spitzer said, “with the addition of
contouring and terraces, soil
erosion can be reduced by 97
percent compared to the soil
erosion that would occur under
conventional tillage (plowing or
disking). These figures show that
by combining mechanical and
vegetative practices and con
servation tillage, erosion problems
can be conquered,” he continued.
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