ABSTRACT
The public and scientific interest in soil erosion increased with the double crises of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Periodically, soil erosion is determined to be at a crisis level. The progressive era researchers appear to have spent much of their efforts in defining the problem in terms of soil exhaustion. Soil erosion was a serious social and environmental problem during the colonial period. The Civil War marked an important divergence from notable concern with soil erosion. Wayne D. Rasmussen states: Post Civil War pressures on many formers to increase production in order to pay debts as form prices fell encouraged soil exploitation rather than conservation. The combination of economic and ecological crises provided the necessary political legitimacy for agricultural economists to investigate the association between socioeconomic conditions on the farm and soil erosion. Social science research after the New Deal was highly influenced by the adoption and diffusion model.
