Talk:Soil fertility/Archive 1

Untitled
There are details on the causes and problems of soil depletion in the articles for shifting agriculture, deforestation, and slash and burn, which I will attempt to organize and merge some of into here in a few week's time if there are no objections. A better title for the page might also be "Soil Fertility" or "Fertility (soil)", as the topic includes fertile soil, nonfertile soil, and transitions between the two (soil depletion or enrichment). Thalassicus01 04:39, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Soil Depletion
The text added: "According to the 1992 Earth Summit the Earth's farm and range land soil has been been depleted by 85% in North America, 76% in South America, 76% in Asia, 74% in Africa, 72% in Europe, and 55% in Australia over the past 100 years." is controversial and I question its accuracy. It needs to be verified by a reliable source. The self-published source provided does say exactly that, but that source falls short of being a reliable source. However, there is hope: it cites an unspecified 1992 Earth Summit report. Fortunately, the two reports of the Earth Summit: Agenda 21, and Caring the Earth, are readily available. However, because neither of these reports address the mineral depletion issue, the disputed fact allegedly supported by them will need a different reliable source be provided. -- Paleorthid (talk) 02:58, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

differences
Soil fertility is related to soil productivity. There should b be something related to it. I think Learnerktm (talk) 16:18, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Bias
Long before Karl Marx lived and currency was invented, soil depletion was an issue - especially in slash/burn agriculture methods. Indeed, it is in the best interests of farmers who own their land to improve soil fertility since moving to a new location is expensive. Granted, not all producers recognize this interest.

I would like to see a more balanced article however, I am not qualified to write on the topic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stvernon (talk • contribs) 19:46, 22 February 2014 (UTC)


 * So true, and Marx did not assert that soil depletion was new, but rather that the political economy of capitalism contributed to its depletion in novel ways. Marx is one of the very first to link capitalism to soil depletion, an insight which is still valid today.  We could similarly add notes about the ways the USSR ravaged soils, from Russia to Georgia.  In any case, it's crucial that the entry not merely imagine that soil depletion is a purely chemical and/or biological process. --Smilo Don (talk) 01:37, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

I restored the Karl Marx quote. Considering the cultural and economic drivers of soil depletion are important to the article. -- Paleorthid (talk) 01:10, 20 October 2019 (UTC)