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Economic damage from soil erosion

SOIL erosion long has been recognized as a threat to the productivity of S U.S. farms and the quality of surface waters. But only recently have data been developed to assess quantitatively the economic damages of erosion and the benefits of erosion control. The damages from erosion, particularly wind erosion, were so readily apparent during the Dust Bowl that experiments and mathematical models were not required to make erosion control a national priority.

The $15 billion the federal government has spent and the many more billions of dollars farmers themselves have spent on conservation practices since the 1930s have reduced erosion on much of the nation's cultivated cropland. A comprehensive, quantitative evaluation is needed now because the current threat is not as clear as it once was. Moreover, federal policymakers are re-evaluating all spending programs in light of the current budget deficits.

The on-farm damages caused by soil erosion are the value of the reduced yields and increased costs of inputs, such as fertilizer, that result from soil losses due to sheet, rill, wind, and other erosional processes. Yields may be reduced by erosion because of reductions in water-holding capacity, infiltration rates, nutrient …