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submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Summary

Grocery prices are expected to rise globally as soil degradation, driven by overfarming, deforestation, and climate change, reduces farmland productivity.

The UN estimates 33% of the world’s soils are degraded, with 90% at risk by 2050. Poor soil forces farmers to use costly fertilizers or abandon fields, raising prices for staples like bread, vegetables, and meat.

Experts advocate for sustainable practices like regenerative agriculture, cover cropping, and reduced tillage to restore soil health.

Innovations and government subsidies could mitigate impacts, but immediate action is critical to ensure food security.

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[-] Caboose12000@lemmy.world 32 points 6 days ago

I'm gonna fucking uninstall this app I'm having a nervous breakdown fuck off i just want some memes not existential fucking dread GAAAAHHHH

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

tell me about it, dude.

We're on the precipice of total collapse. Farmlands failing, Ocean Currents are collapsing, Climate change is accelerating, Intellectuals are being demonized in favor of ignorance and fascism... The possibility of WW3 hanging over us thanks to all of the previous.

the next 20 years are going to be the cursed time that "may you live in interesting times" was talking about.

[-] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

How nice of you to conveniently list out all the current events worth having an existential crisis over, in a reply to a person having an existential crisis

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

I exist to serve.

[-] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

They didn't list them all, the climate change one is more nuanced than that: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/23/earth-breach-planetary-boundaries-health-check-oceans

Yes there are 9 planetary boundaries for us to be able to live here, and we've crossed 7 of them.

People SHOULD be having existential crises. Wtf are existential crises for if not SPECIES ENDING EVENTS? That's why we evolved to freak tf out over this, to help us care enough to address it. That you all would rather numb yourself to it is a testament to how shitty of a species humans truly are. Our ONE fucking advantage is not intelligence, but adaptability. Go on, adapt. Get this shit figured out.

[-] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

Dawg they are having an existential crisis. A bunch of us are, because just about every thread on the big communities on here remind us of how shit things are every day. I wouldn't rather be numb to it, and I'm not suggesting other people to be numb to it. I'm saying it's funny that someone wrote a comment about how much this site reminds them of all the shit going on, then someone replies directly to them with a list of more shit.

Please don't get yourself into the mindset that because everything is shit, we all have to feel like shit all the time too.

[-] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

"Why is WW3 and world-ending climate change so stressful? Can't you just post memes about Mondays and lasagna?"

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[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 44 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Reduced tillage is a big one. There’s a massive misconception out there that the best thing you can do for your soil is go dig it up and turn it over. Soil is alive, and tilling disrupts microbial and fungal action that contribute to its health - by physical rupture of fungal colonies but also by exposing underground life to more sunlight and oxygen. As you kill the top several inches by physical disruption, it becomes dust much more easily washed away by wind and rain: erosion.

We do it to remove weeds before planting, and loosen soil to ease germination. Planting mixed crops or cooperative cover crops are good alternatives for weeds which are massively underused. And overall we may just need to accept some immediate productivity loss in order to ensure long term survival. Farmers are smart, but not smart enough. Too much emphasis on operating tools and fertilizers to optimize yield like land is a machine you can tune, and not enough focus on reducing the need for all this with a more subtle approach with increasing long term yield but perhaps lower yield next year. With farmers always one season away from bankruptcy, you can see why they make the wrong trade offs.

Soil depletion is at the bottom of a lot of civilization collapses in event history. The whole reason the Egyptians lasted as long as they did is that the annual Nile flooding replenished their soil with minerals brought down from higher ground by the flow of water. It wasn’t just the water itself.

[-] Lag@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago

And overall we may just need to accept some immediate productivity loss in order to ensure long term survival.

I see a massive issue in this plan.

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[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

No till or low toll is pretty much the default on most soil types now, at least on North America and Europe. There some areas where its not the case but I wouldn't judge anyone unless I had many years of experience in their particular environment. Sometimes what looks dumb from outside isn't possible or feasible when you're in the middle of it.

One problem we've found with no till after 20 years is stratification compaction just from rainfall and equipment, even with tramlining. Its starting to seem like it needs a working up every few years, or planting down to forage and more active livestock action. The advantage with that would be better carbon sequestration but its not really profitable if land prices/rent are high in that area.

And yes, in a profession with millions of dollars on the line every season, its really hard to make changes if you're just getting by.

[-] hightrix@lemmy.world 40 points 6 days ago

Ahh yes. Our weekly once in a life time crisis. Right on cue.

[-] Razzazzika@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago

Dustbowl part Deux: Electric Boogaloo

[-] x00z@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago

Just use the animal agriculture land instead.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

dammit i had "new dust bowl" on 2025's bingo, not 2024's

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[-] RBWells@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

Well hopefully the world will figure this out, or population On a small scale it's so obvious that soil needs to be managed for a healthy garden or small farm. Big farms just throw down fertilizer (which was a world changing improvement to agriculture) and don't do enough to keep the soil alive and healthy. The headline "poor soil forces fertilizer use" is sort of backwards as it's the industrial farming that's sucked the life out of the soil.

[-] daddy32@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

The world will figure it out via mass migrations and war, unfortunately.

[-] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

With genocide and plagues, oh my!

[-] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 4 points 6 days ago

Perfect reason to hand out more BCs. Need to keep the pop for only wanted children. More human than tons of starving unwanted kids.

[-] viralJ@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Why is "unproductive" in quotes?

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

I guess journalists are finally implying nuance exists.

[-] MeaanBeaan@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Even the soil is quiet quitting these days!

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

Not many people have mentioned this so I guess I'll bring it up:

The two major factors negatively impacting sustainability of agriculture are

  • Ammonia (NH3) is mined as a way to enrich agriculture with Protein, more specifically the ammonia bonds with nitrogen allowing plant development, but it's not exactly infinite. Synthetic Ammonia can be produced but is extremely emission heavy as it is often a petrochemical byproduct with the vast majority of Hydrogen (H) is produced from fossil fuels refining.

  • Modern Invasive Pests/Disease are commonly spread across continents. Lack of plant biodiversity leads to viral outbreaks called "blights" which can lower or even wipe out entire regions of crops. Invasive species most notably insects can plague regions for years without any natural predators. Globalization and Industrialization have created these hurdles, but the yield of such practices are absolutely necessary to feed the current human population.

There are no solutions except reducing the human population. Which isn't going to happen, because people are stupid animals and the people we've empowered all over the world are morons who cannot read the writing on the wall.

[-] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

This isn't even true. The carrying capacity of earth for people hasn't been met. We can absolutely engineer things to be both sustainable and livable at current populations. Rhetoric that advises we "depopulate" is borderline neo-fascism, the same stuff Christians say to bring on the apocalypse.

James Cassidy at Oregon State University has his SOIL lecture series on YouTube. We have many ways to repair our soil and to improve farming. Killing people/ "depopulating" isn't one of them. Shame on you.

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this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
501 points (98.5% liked)

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