Soil Degradation

Guide

Guides

Longer explanations to read at your own pace.

Guides: 8

  1. What Soil Degradation Is, What Causes It and Why It MattersSoil degradation is the decline of soil's ability to grow plants, hold water and cycle nutrients. Learn what drives it and why it matters beyond the farm.
  2. Soil Erosion by Water and Wind: Mechanisms and Warning SignsHow water and wind detach and carry soil away, the forms erosion takes from sheet to gully, and the field signs that tell you it is happening.
  3. Soil Compaction and the Loss of Soil StructureWhy compacted, crusted soil sheds water and starves roots, how structure forms and collapses, and the field signs and causes of compaction.
  4. Salinization and Sodicity: When Salt Takes Over the SoilHow salts accumulate in soil, how salinity differs from sodicity, why irrigation and shallow water tables matter, and how to recognise the signs.
  5. Nutrient Depletion, Organic Matter Loss and the Decline of Soil LifeWhy soils run down when crops remove more than is returned, how organic matter and soil biology decline together, and what the warning signs look like.
  6. Soil Contamination and Acidification ExplainedHow pollutants and falling pH damage soil, where they come from, why some contaminants persist, and what testing and management can and cannot do.
  7. Restoring and Protecting Soil: Practices and Honest LimitsCover crops, reduced tillage, terraces, windbreaks, compost, grazing management and agroforestry: how each protects soil, plus their real limits.
  8. How to Observe and Assess Your Soil, and Where to Find Public DataSimple observation tests for texture, structure, drainage and life, when to send samples to a lab, and where to find public soil maps and survey data.