Study reveals $6,600 the cost of losing six inches of topsoil
A roadside ditch along Highway 2, about 5 miles west of Grand Forks, North Dakota, full of topsoil from the adjoining field that was tilled in the fall. (NDSU photo)
Losing six inches of topsoil could cost farmers more than $6,600 in nutrients and organic matter, according to a new analysis by North Dakota State University researchers. Topsoil is the most fertile layer of a soil, rich in microbial activity and essential for crop production.
When it erodes, thousands of dollars’ worth of nutrients and organic matter erode with it.
