Terry Gregoire

Area Extension Agronomist

Soil erosion is a ancient problem that all civilizations have to deal with. Past civilizations dealt with erosion and declining soil productivity by moving onto new lands or conquering new lands. Today we no longer have that luxury. We must deal with the soil resource that we have now. We must conserve it and preserve it for future generations.

There can be no denying that soil productivity has declined since the prairies were broken some 70-100 years ago. It is evident when flying over the land and seeing eroded hills, that we have a serious problem and the problem has been with us a long time.

Soil erosion is an economic problem for today and tomorrow. believe that one of the reasons it is more difficult to make a profit farming these days is because the soil is not as productive as it should be. The problem of soil erosion is not just merely having soil leaving one site and moving to another. That is the physical process. The terrible reality is that soil erosion means increased expense and lower yields for today and future generations. Perhaps, even abandonment of once productive land.

Recognizing the problem is easy. Each farmer knows the fields on his farm-that have an erosion problem or whether the erosion has already reduced productivity to minimal or non existent levels. Fields are numerous where yields decline to practically to zero on the hill tops. So, recognizing the progressive detrimental effects of soil erosion is not difficult. The problem is how do we manage the problem with todayÌs agriculture method.

Land owners needs to honestly and critically look at land units and determine what is the erosion hazard on that land and what is the beat management practice to prevent unnecessary soil erosion from occurring. They need to ask, how we are going to more intensely manage these units. Do they continue to farm the eroded areas the same as we have in the past or the same as they are the other parts 0£ field? Or are they going to try in leave residue on the hill tops or put on manure or fertilize extra heavy, even though its going to require extra time, labor, and expense? How much longer can we afford to not pay extra attention to eroded sites? It is a question that needs to be answered by each producer, for it is only a matter of time before highly eroded areas will no longer be profitable to farm by any method of farming. Soil fertility, water holding capacity, internal drainage and soil structure is very difficult to replace once its gone.

The inherit ability to produce a profit on the land is going to determine whether there is a farmer on that land in the future. While food supplies in our countries will not be jeopardized, individual farm families and perhaps communities will be jeopardized by declining productivity. Society and the individual land owners will have to decide how to best protect that land and how much extra effort and expense to put into it, to improve it from its present condition. We need begin to supply those inputs on areas that have erosion problems.

The Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Till Association in its formation ten years ago, recognized the hazards of soil erosion. In the past ten years, much progress have been made in developing equipment, technologies and information to be able to farm eroded soils without tillage. This information has been utilized by all farmers to improve residue management and erosion control. It is recognized that zero tillage operations may not work for everyone, however, the principles and information that has been generated to make zero till work can be utilized by all farmers. No matter what the management practice, whether its reduced tillage or no tillage erosion must be prevented to maintain into the future a strong and healthy farm economy.