Human Induced Soil Erosion
What is the value of soil lost & the cost of the degradation?
Small alterations to the landscape can lead to significant unintended soil loss and all the associated negative impacts that come with your soil washing down the drain with precious rainwater. While this picture is taken in a residential development, similar situations and outcomes occur regularly across agricultural land.
Scenario: The distance from the base of this photo to the crest is roughly 20m with the higher part having a lesser slope than the lower part. To the right of the photo is the constructed waterway, however the overland water flow from the left is ‘diverted’ along the edge of the footpath & turf added by humans to the landscape which is performing like a diversion bank. The ‘bank’ was only 30mm high (depth of the turf) however this was enough to cause gully erosion to begin along the entire length, even at the very top where there was little overland flow. The gully currently increases from 20mm to a depth and width of roughly 300mm. Any future runoff will no doubt increase the size of this gully and create more gullies flowing into this main one.
From this it is clear that very small changes can easily create large amounts of soil degradation; or if managed holistically can prevent degradation while also rehydrating the landscape & therefore improving productivity. Are your actions preventing or causing erosion?
Prevention is better than a cure, you can never ‘recover’ the soil, water, or opportunity lost down the drain. Understanding energy of water movement & taking a holistic approach to land management is the key. If you want to keep your soil and the rain that falls onto it contact Whorl Ag to coach you along your journey.
