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Midwestern US Soil is Eroding 10 to 1,000 Times Faster Than It Forms

Caroline Quarrier (r) and Brendon Quirk preparing to extract a soil sample from Stinson Prairie, Iowa.

In a discovery that has repercussions for everything from domestic agricultural policy to global food security and the plans to mitigate climate change, researchers at the University of Massachusetts recently announced that the rate of soil erosion in the Midwestern US is 10 to 1,000 times greater than pre-agricultural erosion rates...