As clean and white as the deep snow around Summit now appears, it doesn't seem as if it will signal relief from the "snirt" (snow + dirt) or wind erosion we see so often out here on the prairie.
A brief digest from today's reading.
From Twitter:
Striking and strange image from Dec 24: Soil blown off fallow strips just east of the NE-WY state line. The "shadows" of soil somehow make the fallow strips stand out in relief. Passage of cold front was really dramatic in this area, and I saw reports of dust south of here in CO pic.twitter.com/XgyyoShS1T
— Joe Mason (@MoreorLoess) December 27, 2022
At the Star Tribune, agriculture reporter Chris Vondracek reports in Study: Midwest topsoil 'being eroded 100 times faster than it's forming':
. . .Minnesota exceeds the national rate in the loss of soil caused by wind erosion. And Cates has seen firsthand the destruction caused by soil loss.
This summer, Cates visited fields outside Crookston in the northwestern portion of the state and witnessed farmers frantically replanting dry edible beans following a dust storm.
"The land was scoured," said Cates, "just scoured."
Erosion happens many ways. Sometimes, it's winds depleting a hillock over decades. Other events are more rapid. Those latter events, said Cates, prompt farmers to consider other practices, such as reducing tillage or planting cover crops.
"Every farmer who sees erosion doesn't make a change," Cates said. "But every farmer who changes, references erosion as a motivator."
Larsen said in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, when the USDA set standards, researchers only understood a shadow of what today's scientists know about soil loss.
"At the time, the science wasn't really there like it is now," said Larsen.
And researchers and teachers with UM Extension say they're sounding the alarm bells. . . .
And in Forum News' Farm Forum, Dominik Dausch reports in South Dakota drought enters hibernation mode. Here's why recent snowfall won't make a difference.:
It might seem strange to think about South Dakota's years-long drought during the winter months - and in the wake of last week's deadly storm that dumped snow across the state - but that dryness plaguing the state's soils continues to have an impact even now, experts say.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report, more than 60% of the state is experiencing some form of dryness, with the southeast corner of the state suffering the same extreme drought conditions since August.
One would think the holiday season precipitation would bring some much needed moisture to South Dakota, but National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Chapman told Farm Forum "very little" moisture has since entered the soil.
"In the areas [south] of Interstate 90, they're really dry and have really poor crops. As you go north, the situation improves," Bly said, adding he's personally seen topsoil loss on land around Beresford and Centerville, South Dakota.
"Typically, you don't get significant changes in drought status this time of year, because you can't change things … Our soils were frozen at the top levels," Chapman said. "What we have done is build a base of snow with a higher moisture content." . . .
. . .Bly said last week's storm also brought some strong winds, which could have blown topsoil around and caused some potential soil erosion in drought areas.
It's sad to see soil erosion stripping farmland. Can practice and policy damp it down?
Photo: An irrigation unit parked on a tilled field in Dakota County in May 2022. Photo by Christopher Vondracek.
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