| "Making the most of the new soil conservation ..." |
98 |
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new Conservation Reserve Program slashed the national erosion rate by a third in just a couple of years -- one of the biggest conservation success stories of the century. ... Over five years, the program is subsidizing farmers who will permanently set aside highly erodible marginal cropland, some 11 percent of the cropland base. These fragile lands are to be restored as grassland or woodland. Farmers will also be penalized for permitting too much erosion. The Soil Conservation Service estimated that the program had already reduced the U.S. annual soil loss by almost a half-billion tons by the second year. |
agriculture farming land soil |
