A U.N. report released Thursday in Geneva found that soil is disappearing worldwide as much as 100 times faster than it can be replaced, and half a billion people live in places that are turning into deserts.
Illinois does not face that kind of pressing danger, but its verdant farmlands are threatened as well.
Minerals deposited by glaciers and subsequent prairie growth for thousands of years have blessed Illinois with some of the world’s most fertile topsoil. But roughly a fifth of the state’s farmland is losing soil faster than it can be regenerated, a recipe for long-term disaster.
Moreover, much of the state’s farmland is devoted to growing crops such as corn that are used to make biofuels, a practice the U.N. report says poses a particular risk of desertification.
It can take hundreds to thousands of years to generate an inch of topsoil, which is why soil often is referred to as a non-renewable resource. And Illinois already loses farmland to such things as urban expansion and roads.
It’s also been estimated that Illinois’ land has lost half its organic matter since farmers first showed up with plows. Those losses have been masked by farmers using more fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation and advanced farming equipment. But soil depletion and erosion eventually will lower crop yields. And higher winds and stronger storms predicted in climate change models will accelerate erosion.
Gerald W. Adelmann, president and CEO of the conservation group Openlands, which works with agricultural groups to protect farmland, says Illinois is at a crossroads.
Many farmers, he said, have adopted soil-friendly practices such as as no-till farming, allowing native plants to grow along waterways, creating habitat corridors for wildlife and providing uncultivated buffers at the edges of fields to slow erosion.
But the state faces a crisis if more is not done.
“One of the challenges is there is tension between traditional conservation and traditional farming groups,” Adelmann said. “There is middle ground. Farmers care about the land, they care about soil health, because if they lose it they are in big trouble.”
A bill awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature would be a step in the right direction. It would allow local soil conservation districts to give farmers advice on the best practices for maximizing soil health. The state also is launching a pilot program that reduces crop insurance costs for farmers who plant “cover crops” to hold soil in place after harvesting is finished.
But more ambitious measures are needed, including finding ways to financially protect farmers as the further measures are taken to halt the loss of topsoil.
Eliot Clay, agriculture and water programs director for the Illinois Environmental Council, said the state should restore funding for local soil and water conservation districts that advise farmers on how to protect soil. And, he said, the state should adopt best practices for soil and nutrient retention on thousands of acres of farmland owned by the Department of Natural Resources.
“Illinois can be a leader in soil retention and in nutrient reduction if we make a couple small changes in how the DNR leases land and if Illinois takes a bigger role in encouraging farmers to rethink how they have been farming,” Clay said.
The timing for all this is not great. Illinois farmers are reeling from heavy rains that delayed planting, as well as from President Donald Trump’s trade war. On Tuesday, China announced it will stop buying U.S. farm products, a major blow to a state such as Illinois, which is the nation’s top soybean producer and ships much of its crop to China.
But there’s never an ideal time to tackle a basic long-term problem like soil erosion. Because the impact is not immediately obvious, it can be easy to ignore. Unfortunately, further delay will only make finding solutions more difficult.
As the U.N. report made clear, protecting the world’s farmland is a pressing challenge. A failure to do so could lead to famines, warfare and massive disruptive migrations. Hungry people don’t stay put.
As for Illinois, we are remarkably fortunate. We can drive through our state for hours and see nothing but waving fields of grain.
Which also means we have much more to lose.
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