TORONTO: One third of the world’s arable land has been lost to soil erosion or pollution in the last 40 years, and preserving topsoil is crucial for feeding a growing population, scientists said in research published during climate change talks in Paris.
It takes about 500 years to generate 2.5 cm (one inch) of topsoil under normal agricultural conditions, and soil loss has accelerated as demand for food rises, biologists from Britain’s Sheffield University said in a report published on Wednesday.
Preserving valuable topsoil is crucial if the world is to produce enough food for more than 9 billion people by 2050, the scientists said.
“Soil is lost rapidly but replaced over millennia, and this represents one of the greatest global threats to agriculture,” Sheffield University biology Professor Duncan Cameron said in a statement with the report.
He recommends that farmers engage in “conservation agriculture” where crops are rotated more frequently, organic matter is restored to the soil and less energy is spent on nitrogen fertilizers.
At present, intensive farming maintains crop yields through the heavy use of fertilizers, made by an industrial process that consumes five percent of the world’s natural gas production and two percent of the world’s annual energy supply, the report said.
On Tuesday French officials launched a plan to raise soil carbon levels in order to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, presenting the scheme at international climate change negotiations in the French capital.
The French-led plan, backed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), aims to increase soil carbon stocks by 0.4 percent annually to boost soil fertility while combating global warming.
Global soil loss a rising threat to food production
Global soil loss a rising threat to food production
Spain swine fever spreads outside containment zone
- African swine fever is a viral disease that is harmless to humans but nearly always fatal for pigs and wild boars
BARCELONA: African swine fever has been detected outside a containment zone in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region for the first time since its outbreak in November, officials said on Friday.
African swine fever is a viral disease that is harmless to humans but nearly always fatal for pigs and wild boars.
Although it has not spread to domestic pig farms, the outbreak has disrupted exports from Spain, the world’s third-largest producer of pork and its derivatives.
Thirteen new cases in wild boars have been reported, including two in areas outside the six-kilometer containment zone near Barcelona, Catalonia’s agriculture department said.
Authorities then expanded the high-risk zone to the affected municipalities and restricted access to the surrounding woods to prevent further spread.
The outbreak was Spain’s first reported case since 1994, and more than 100 cases have now been detected in wild boars.
“More than ever, it is essential not to lower our guard against a disease that remains present,” said Oscar Ordeig, regional agriculture minister.
The origin of the outbreak remains unknown, and a judicial investigation is ongoing.
