Soil Erosion Threatens Food Production

David Pimentel and Michael Burgess
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David Pimentel: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Michael Burgess: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

Agriculture, 2013, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: Since humans worldwide obtain more than 99.7% of their food (calories) from the land and less than 0.3% from the oceans and aquatic ecosystems, preserving cropland and maintaining soil fertility should be of the highest importance to human welfare. Soil erosion is one of the most serious threats facing world food production. Each year about 10 million ha of cropland are lost due to soil erosion, thus reducing the cropland available for world food production. The loss of cropland is a serious problem because the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization report that two-thirds of the world population is malnourished. Overall, soil is being lost from agricultural areas 10 to 40 times faster than the rate of soil formation imperiling humanity’s food security.

Keywords: soil erosion; malnutrition; cropland; rangeland; pasture; soil organic matter; assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (55)

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