Global farming is at a crucial juncture in its evolution. Over 9000 years ago humanity shifted
from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to stationary agriculture sparking the Agricultural
Revolution and putting soil at the forefront of agricultural focus. However contemporary
farming practices have seen an extreme shift in focus from the original revolution that is
from tending plants to highly chemical-centric and extractive farming methods known as the
green revolution. In this process soil has paid a heavy environmental price with a
substantial amount of land becoming unsuitable for agriculture over the past century. The
1992-93 World Resources Report by the United Nations issued alarming conclusions revealing
that nearly 10 million hectares of the world's best farmlands have been destroyed by human
activity including the green revolution. Additionally over 1.2 billion hectares of land
worldwide have suffered serious damage and can only be restored at a great cost. This loss of
soil capability can result in significant food shortages in the next two to three decades. One
significant impact of this issue is that as usual people in the disadvantaged nations will
bear the brunt of the consequences. Approximately two-thirds of the seriously eroded land is
located in Asia and Africa with around 25% of the cropped land in Central America being
moderately to severely damaged. The percentage of affected land in North America is relatively
low at only 4.4%. Soil degradation is the primary cause for the dramatic decline in food
production in 80 developing countries during the past decade with nearly 40% of global farming
conducted on small parcels of land measuring 1 hectare or less. This situation is characterized
by ignorance and poverty. In India alone more than 120.40 million hectares of the total 328.73
million hectares of geographical area have suffered from degraded soils due to the green
revolution. The State of Punjab known as the cradle of Indian green revolution is a clear
example of this environmental hazard specifically in relation to soil resources. Thousands of
hectares in this region cannot sustain plant growth without significant investment in soil
reclamation resulting in a substantial drain of national resources. All of this proves beyond
a shadow of doubt the critical role that soil plays in human sustenance.
