Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best, “A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” This recent article from Sustainable Table, explains how important healthy soil is for not only our plants and food, but also for our own health.
Healthy soil is essential for the production of crops used to feed humans and livestock. In addition to providing a stable base to support plant roots, soil stores water and nutrients required for plant growth.
Unfortunately, industrial agriculture practices continue to damage and deplete this valuable natural resource. While intensive plowing and monocrop agriculture systems Ghave caused nutrient depletion and wide-scale soil erosion, over-application of fertilizers and pesticides has contaminated our soils and polluted our waterways.
Soil Nutrients and Fertilizer
Plants need more than just sunlight and water. In order to grow, they require a variety of different nutrients. In natural environments such as prairies and forests, plants obtain most necessary nutrients from minerals found within the soil. When these plants die, they fall to the ground, decompose, and release nutrients back into the soil, making them available for new plants. In this way, nutrients are “recycled” with each generation.
On farms, the nutrient cycle is somewhat different. Since crops are continually harvested or eaten by grazing livestock, there is no steady supply of decaying plant material to replenish nutrient levels within the soil. Instead, nutrients must be restored by adding fertilizers to the soil.
Traditionally, agricultural soils were fertilized using livestock manure, which is rich in nutrients and organic matter. Farmers also practiced crop rotation, regularly alternating the types of crop grown in various fields and periodically allowing fields to remain unplanted. This process enables organic matter to accumulate and decompose, thus restoring nutrients to the soil.
Industrial agriculture has dramatically altered the nutrient management practices used on farms. Today, industrial farms no longer raise animals and crops together; instead, livestock are raised on enormous concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs G), and crops are mass-produced on separate farms. Although CAFOs generate tremendous amounts of manure, it’s too costly to transport it to other cropland for use as fertilizer.
Instead, today’s large-scale industrial farms depend on synthetic, manmade chemical fertilizers to support high-intensity monocrop systems. Unfortunately, synthetic fertilizers are often over-applied to cropland. In fact, it’s estimated that only about half of all fertilizers are actually absorbed by plants; the remaining chemicals pollute the atmosphere, soils and waterways. FIn 1998, the US used about 20 million tons of synthetic fertilizers.
The enormous amount of manure generated by CAFOs also causes significant pollution problems. In order to avoid the expense of treating or transporting this animal manure, CAFOs typically store the waste in huge open-air pits, or “lagoons,” and eventually spray the untreated liquid manure onto surrounding land.
Too Many Nutrients
Plants need nutrients to grow. but there’s a limited amount of nutrients they can actually use. Although plants are able to absorb some of the nutrients provided by synthetic fertilizers or manure, excess nutrients remain in the soil when too much is applied. These nutrients are eventually washed out of the soil and into ground and surface waters. The two major nutrient pollutants released by synthetic fertilizers and manure are nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P).
Nitrogen Pollution and Human Health
Nutrient pollution also affects human health by contaminating local water supplies. Nitrogen-contaminated groundwater is harmful to humans, particularly to vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly and people who have suppressed immune systems. FInfants who drink water contaminated with nitrates can suffer from methemoglobinemia, or blue baby syndrome, a condition that can cause brain damage or death.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has also linked high levels of nitrates in drinking water to spontaneous abortions in women. F
Additional Soil Damage Caused by Synthetic Fertilizers and CAFO Manure
Although synthetic fertilizers add necessary nutrients to cropland, they fail to restore organic matter to the soil as manure does, and have been shown to adversely affect soil productivity. Regular use of synthetic fertilizers causes long-term depletion of organic matter, soil compaction and degradation of overall soil quality. FOver-fertilization also causes important minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium to gradually leach out of the soil. F
Manure from CAFOs can also degrade soil quality. For instance, since heavy metals are added to animal feed in order to promote growth, manure can contain trace amounts of metals such as arsenic, copper, selenium and zinc. FThe high concentration of manure in CAFO lagoons enables heavy metals to accumulate in the surrounding environment, contaminating soil, poisoning wildlife and polluting groundwater.
CAFO manure also contains disease-causing pathogens and residues of hormones Gand antibiotics G. When untreated manure is applied to fields, these substances can be washed over and through soil, contaminating groundwater and surface water.
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