Farmers Report Soil-related resource Concerns on About Half of Soybean, Wheat, Cotton, and Oat Fields

When natural resources degrade to the degree that their intended use is impaired, then a given land parcel is said to have a “resource concern.” Soil resource concerns, such as soil erosion or low organic matter, can result from geographic factors as well as past and ongoing management decisions. In the long run, soil concerns can reduce agricultural productivity and profitability. Soil concerns also can exacerbate off-farm impacts of farming and ranching, such as downstream water pollution. Using a nationally representative sample of land from the 2017 National Resources Inventory (NRI), the USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) found that 18 percent of cropland acreage has water erosion, and 14 percent has a wind-erosion concern.