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Illinois Dust Storm Disaster Is a Warning for Agriculture

The Equation

Because like the Dust Bowl of so many decades ago, this tragedy stemmed from a collision of multiple systemic problems—in this case, unchecked climate change layered atop the excesses of industrial agriculture. Preventing soil loss from farms and its damaging consequences is possible, and it starts with keeping farm soils covered.

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Farmers Can Adapt to Alternating Droughts and Floods—Here’s How

The Equation

Industrial agricultural practices such as tillage (plowing) and leaving fields bare between growing seasons degrade soil structure, reduce water infiltration, lower water storage capacity, and increase runoff (the flow of water across the soil’s surface).

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Across Farm Country, Fertilizer Pollution Impacts Not Just Health, but Water Costs, Too

Civil Eats

Tesdell explained that when his European ancestors settled in the Midwest, they plowed the prairie and switched from deeply rooted perennial plants to shallow-rooted annual crops like wheat, oats, and corn instead. Lee Tesdell is the fifth generation to own his family’s 80-acre farm in Polk County, Iowa.

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How sustainable farming is paying off for Australian farmers

Agritecture Blog

However, industrial agriculture — characterized by the use of heavy tillage, intensive monocropping, and excessive grazing — has resulted in the degradation of the very soils that sustain our food supply. CONTENT SOURCED FROM LEARN LIBERTY Written by: Max Payne May 19, 2023 The connection between a farmer and their land is unmatched.

Farming 52
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Can Biden’s climate-smart agriculture program live up to the hype?

Food Environment and Reporting Network

Farmland itself was also once a major source of atmospheric carbon dioxide as farmers cleared carbon-rich forests and plowed up prairie soils, releasing carbon from trees and the ground. Now, climate-smart agriculture aims to recapture some of that carbon. “A Both warm the atmosphere far more, per molecule, than carbon dioxide.