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greenie_beansyesterday at 3:10 PM1 replyview on HN

glad we're working from the same figure now. 1mm per year is not insignificant, and soil is not a renewable resource... probably a fine amount of soil loss for a farmer's lifetime, but a land manager needs to think over centuries and not in profit cycles.

> and as Smil points out there are plenty of places where land being farmed industrially is gaining soil.

i would bet at least $100 this happens where they do cover crops and actually manage the soil as a resource to be preserved


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ch4s3yesterday at 3:31 PM

Thats 1mm in the upper Midwest around the Great Lakes, wind is doubtless a factor. You can’t generalize to all industrial ag from a dozen sites in 3 geographically similar states.

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