Can degraded soil really be restored?

The answer

Many degraded soils improve substantially with consistent management, especially their structure, organic matter and biology, but recovery is usually slow and uneven. FAO notes that soil regeneration processes are predominantly slow. Some losses, such as deep topsoil removed by erosion or heavy contamination, may be impossible or very costly to reverse on a human timescale. The earlier a problem is caught, the better the outlook, and prevention is cheaper than cure.