Community | February 03, 2010 | 10 comments

Britain facing food crisis as world's soil 'vanishes in 60 years'

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/6828878/Britain-facing-food-crisis-as-w...

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JanforGore
Fertile soil is being lost faster than it can be replenished and will eventually lead to the “topsoil bank” becoming empty, an Australian conference heard.

Chronic soil mismanagement and over farming causing erosion, climate change and increasing populations were to blame for the dramatic global decline in suitable farming soil, scientists said.

A University of Sydney study, presented to the conference, found soil is being lost in China 57 times faster than it can be replaced through natural processes.

In Europe that figure is 17 times, in America 10 times while five times as much soil is being lost in Australia.

Soil is also a valuable store of carbon and can release the greenhouse gas if it is ploughed or dug up.

The conference heard world soil, including European and British soils, could vanish within about 60 years if drastic action was not taken.

This will lead to a global food crisis, chronic food shortages and higher prices, the conference heard.

Despite better than average farming practices, European soil might last for 100 years if no further damage occurs worldwide, scientists said.

In reality, however, increased land pressures aimed at compensating global production losses would likely mean it will run out faster, they added.

Last September the government launched new plans to protect the nation's soil which included farmers being asked to use less fertiliser.

Britain imports about 40 per cent of all its food it consumes, a figure that has steadily risen over the past few years.

Almost £32 billion of food was imported into the UK in 2008 up from more than £27.7 billion the year before.

John Crawford, professor of Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Sydney, who presented the study, said it was unknown how long soil will last.

“It could be as little as 60 years and that is a scary figure because it is not obvious that we have time to reverse decline and still meet future demands for food,” he said.
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  1. groups:
    Community,   Green,   Earth and Science,   Sustainable Agriculture
  2. tags:
    Environment,  Climate Change,  CO2,  Population,  7 more
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