ahay68979 - 9/25/2012 08:08

"You always hear that from NRCS also, but you know how much dirt that is 10 ton to the acre?, tht is alot of dirt, we wouldnt have any topsoil left in a couple years, I dont belelve that. Ive got the same ditches in the same spots as I did when I notilled, and they arent any deeper now, then they were then"


I am not arguing with your observations ahay68979, I just want to comment on soil loss per acre in general.

10 ton per acre is less than 1/10th of an inch of soil depth. Yes it is alot of dirt, no, you would not necesssarily notice it visually.

From the NRCS standpoint, think about it in terms of 10 tons over a 10,000 acre(or 100,000acre) water shed. You would notice 100,000 tons of soil and the nutrient particles attached to it when it washes into our streams rivers and lakes. Also, personally, I always wonder, what is the dollar figure value of the nutrients (fertilizer) that are attached to those soil particles that are leaving my farm.

In the area of the midwest I share with Ed Winkle, we are sitting on highly erodible (much is actually classified HEL), low organic matter, high clay content, timber soils. In most places we have a very thin layer of top soil to work with. And we don't raise much COC. Oh, and what's irrigation?

Thanks for sharing your observations. We are all still learning.