The Effects of Soil Erosion in Canada (Essay Sample)

The Costs of Soil Erosion to Crop Production in Canada Student’s Name: Professor: Institution: Date: Topic: The Effects of Soil Erosion in Canada Introduction The vast and fertile landscape of Canada is largely known as the country's most important agricultural production, which supports both the domestic economy and the world's food supply. One of the biggest problems facing Canadian farmers in the twenty-first century is soil erosion. Thus, the sustainability of agriculture in Canada is threatened by soil erosion and there is a need for appropriate management measures to be implemented to control it. Soil erosion has caused reduced soil health, poor crop yield, incompetent use of cropping inputs, and poor water quality through sedimentation, the release and transportation of pesticides, nutrients, and other substances. Three primary mechanisms lead to soil erosion: tillage, water, and wind. More danger exists from the combined effects of tillage, water, and wind erosion than from any one of the erosion processes alone. Water erosion for instance causes loss of topsoil plus nutrients and it also increases water turbidity (France et al. 2018). Loss of nutrients causes lower crop yields and quality of crops to be lower. Objective The main objective of this study is to assess the effects of soil erosion on food production in Canada. It will be in terms of costs, yield, and quality of crops produced. The Effects of Soil Erosion Two significant areas where soil erosion has a noticeable effect are the environment and the economy. These effects show themselves in several ways, including decreased soil quality, decreased agricultural land productivity, and increased costs associated with agricultural output. Fertile topsoil from agricultural land is removed by soil erosion and is carried to water bodies. There are several effects of this process. First, less cultivated surfaces mean less agricultural production, which could jeopardize food security. However, soil erosion has the potential to degrade water supplies and potentially lead to the eutrophication of water bodies (Couture et al., 2018). Additionally, soil erosion can cause waterbodies to become silted, causing significant financial use to protect water supplies. The major crop commodities in Canada are cereals, potatoes, pulses, and Oilseeds. According to (Badreldin & Lobb, 2023), the agricultural systems that are most likely to cause soil erosion in Canada are those that produce potatoes in the Atlantic Maritimes, which necessitate extensive plowing and make it difficult to implement conservation tillage techniques. The farming system that poses the second-highest risk of erosion is conventionally tillage-produc...