ABSTRACT
Soil erosion is arguably the most important land degradation process associated with farming. Pimentel (2006) and Lal (1995) estimated independently that globally, 10 million and 3 million ha, respectively, of cropland are lost annually due to soil erosion. The total area of productive land destroyed by erosion since the beginning of settlement agriculture may be as high as 130 × 106 ha (Lal 1995) or approximately 9% of today’s arable land area. Continued erosion based on current estimated soil degradation, and potential future accelerated erosion rates, have dangerous consequences. The goal of this chapter is to address the role and implications of soil erosion in light of estimated soil regeneration rates on sustained production such that agriculture’s ability to meet the future demand for agricultural products might be sustained.
