Scientists study ‘peak oil’ but ‘peak soil’ is very real too. More intensive production, deforestation, and overgrazing exhausts the soil leaving it unable to hold water or nutrients, leading to erosion and desertification. Climate change can compound these factors. China experiences yellow dust storms that can reach the western U.S. Agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S., the Middle East, and northern China have all been lost and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 25% of agricultural land is highly degraded and a further 8% is moderately degraded. Using current standard practices, current producing agricultural land will yield approximately 30% less by 2050. At this rate, 70% of the earth’s surface will have to be converted to agricultural purposes by 2050– up from the current 40% in order to meet the demand for food. To read further about soil degradation and the actions that can be taken to counteract such loss:
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