Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Agriculture Category
Click here to view all posts

Could California be facing a dust bowl?

Posted by: Maven on March 31, 2009 at 11:17 am

From Dairy Herd Management:

Farmers in drought-stricken areas of California opting not to plant crops this year are being advised to leave their fields in “roughed up” condition to prevent soil loss due to wind erosion.

Large portions of the state are currently classified by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska as experiencing severe or extreme drought. The potential for soil loss due to wind erosion in these areas could be as great as 250 tons per acre a year. Loss of irrigation water could result in vast acreages of farmland being taken out of production, resulting in many acres of bare soil.

Abandoned, bare fields are subject to severe wind erosion, according to Rita Bickel, an agronomist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Davis, Calif. “Fields continually subjected to erosion may result in land that is incapable of returning to cropping or vegetative systems at a later date,” she says.

Bickel says not only could vast amounts of precious topsoil be lost, but air quality will be impacted as well, with blowing soil-impairing vision on roads and highways. She advises farmers to take steps now to create surface-roughing, such as building furrows or ridges. These will absorb and deflect part of the wind energy and trap drifting soil particles.

Read more from Dairy Herd Management by clicking here.

March 31, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture

Comments

Leave a Reply