2025

Hi Penny:
Happy new year!
I don’t know who the quote was made by but whoever it was clearly knows nothing about the consequences of declining soil fertility. An experiment that took place over a sixty year period demonstrated that we can alter conditions that favour floods and fires. This was reported by the soil scientist, William Albrecht, PhD, in a paper he wrote so long ago. The experiment took place on Sanborn Fields at Albrecht’s college of agriculture. It was started in 1888. Corn was grown in two side by side plots with one receiving a manure application while the other plot received nothing. Over the period of the experiment, the field not receiving the manure had more rainwater running off with less soaking into the soil When the soil in this plot was plowed after sixty years, one rainfall was sufficient to flatten the plowed condition of the field. On the field receiving the manure, however, the plowed condition of the field was not altered by the same rainfall. The soil in the plot receiving the manure had more water soaking into the soil with less water running off than the plot not receiving the manure.
The conclusion is obvious, if you see water causing soil erosion, if the drainage basin for a river is resulting first in flood conditions and later drought conditions, you are seeing the consequences of declining soil fertility. As in sickness care, these symptoms are addressed without addressing the underlying cause. I guess that is because the money is in symptomatic treatments.