Soil conservation

Soil conservation is the protection and management of soil to limit erosion, maintain soil structure and fertility, and preserve its capacity to support ecosystems and agriculture.

Contour plowing: A farming practice that plows and plants along a slope’s elevation contours rather than up and down it. Following the land’s contours slows runoff and reduces the soil loss that conservation seeks to prevent.
Soil erosion: The detachment and movement of soil by water, wind, ice, gravity, or human activity. Preventing this loss is the central purpose of soil conservation.
Land degradation: The decline in land’s biological or economic productivity caused by natural processes or human activity. Soil erosion and declining fertility are major forms of land degradation that conservation addresses.
Dust Bowl: A severe period of drought and wind erosion that devastated parts of the Great Plains during the 1930s. The disaster exposed the consequences of vulnerable soils and prompted major conservation efforts.
Soil health: The continuing capacity of soil to function as a living ecosystem and sustain plants, animals, and people. Conservation success is increasingly assessed through soil functions beyond erosion rates alone.
Terrace farming: A farming method that reshapes slopes into a series of level or gently graded platforms. Terraces interrupt long slopes, reducing water speed and erosion on cultivated hillsides.
Water erosion: The detachment and transport of soil by rainfall, runoff, or flowing water. Rain splash and runoff are major pathways through which conservation measures lose soil.
Desertification: Land degradation in drylands caused by climatic variations and human activities. Poor soil management can intensify the loss of productive land in dry regions.
Hugh Hammond Bennett: An American soil scientist and conservation advocate who led the creation of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. Bennett helped turn soil erosion control into a coordinated public program.
Regenerative agriculture: A farming approach that seeks to restore soil and ecosystem health through management practices. Its claims raise questions about which practices reliably improve soil and how outcomes are measured.

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