Farmers and gardeners should know about soil erosion prevention methods if they want to have fruitful outcomes. Erosion is one of the major factors responsible for farmland loss because it degrades the soil quality. The effects are severe, but when you can reduce or prevent it, it would mitigate the obvious risks. It’s also crucial to understand about the causes (and mechanism) of soil erosion, so you can slow down the potential damages and destruction.
About Soil Erosion
It’s basically land deterioration because some of the important particles have been removed. There are different soil erosion types, depending on the cause or the speed. It can be gradual or accelerated. It can also be natural or anthropogenic.
- Water erosion. It refers to the removal of the topsoil, mostly caused by water, like floods, snowmelt, or rainfall.
- Wind erosion. In dry areas, dust storms can remove the topsoil.
- Anthropogenic erosion. The combination of anthropogenic elements and human activities can lead to indirect (or even indirect) soil erosion. For instance, quarrying and mining can lead to soil erosion
directly. The indirect impact may include the increased erodibility, topsoil disturbance, and unsustainable management.
Soil Erosion Causes
Before we can dig deeper into soil erosion prevention methods, we should talk about the causes. By understanding the causes, you can deal better with solutions. There are some natural causes and some causes that are caused by human activities.
Some of the natural causes are:
- Strong gusts of wind. Heavy winds tend to remove the dry (and also tiny) earth particles. This is usually common in semi-arid areas. It can lead to desertification.
- Climate change. With abnormal temperature leaps and rainfalls, it somewhat damages the soil’s surface. Not to mention that farmers deal with stunted vegetation growth.
- Flooding and rainfall. They can wash topsoil particles away.
- Wildfires. Shrubs and trees can slow water run off down. But when buffer zones or forests are destroyed due to the wildfires, there won’t be any obstacles for the water streams.
Some erosions caused by human activities are commonly happening because of deforestation or irresponsible farm management. Some of them are:
- Excessive irrigation or fertilization. In terms of fertilization, it may lead to soil structure destruction and dehumidification. What about irrigation? Well, artificial irrigation may lead to topsoil erosion.
- Monoculture or monocropping. It can lead to field depletion, which results in soil erosion and land degradation.
- Conventional tillage. Because of the moldboard plowing, the soil becomes loose, which can be easily removed by winds or water.
- Overgrazing. When there is poor pasture management, it may lead to livestock overgrazing that damages (and destroys) topsoil cover.
- Deforestation and logging. When you cut down trees, you speed the erosive process up.
Ways to Prevent Soil Erosion
It’s a good thing that there are some soil erosion prevention methods to do to prevent the issue from happening. Let’s not forget that soil erosion is mostly accelerated by human activities. So, how to prevent the issue from happening?
- Sustainable farming practice. One of the techniques is regenerative agriculture, which can preserve as well as restore the ecosystem. It can also improve the soil’s health and quality.
- Windbreaks planting. Windbreaks refer to planting trees and shrubs in order to protect soil, livestock, and people. It can also improve crop production. Windbreaks are also handy to deal with wind velocities.
- Stone walls. When there is accumulation of sediment behind the (dry) stone walls, such a condition can create perfect farming land as well as preventing soil erosion.
- Reforestation. This practice is great for around water areas or for unstable land. Not only that; it’s also beneficial to deal with climate change.
- Conservation tillage, which can minimize tillage passes. The techniques can be beneficial to prevent (or at least reduce) soil’s vertical movement.
Conclusion
Soil erosion is a crucial and serious matter. If you can do these soil erosion prevention methods as early as possible, you should be able to address the issue and save Mother Earth at the same time.