This is accomplished by ridging or roughening the soil surface to trap moving soil particles. Increase size of soil aggregates. This is accomplished by using crop rotations that include grasses and legumes, by growing high-residue crops and returning crop residues to the soil, and by emergency tillage, which creates clods on the soil surface. Increasing the size of aggregates means that it takes a stronger wind to move the soil. Factors that affect the quantity of wind erosion that takes place include soil erodibility, soil ridge roughness, climate and weather, the unsheltered distance across a field along the prevailing wind erosion direction, and residue or vegetative cover.
Different soils erode at different rates because of their inherent characteristics.
Soil texture and cloddiness are the primary properties in determining soil erodibility. Soil erodibility can be altered by growing different crops. Some crops, such as hay, will normally help increase the size of soil aggregates more than wheat, corn, or soybeans whereas tillage operations break down the aggregates. The bigger an aggregate is, the less chance of blowing. Some types of tillage equipment, such as the disc, reduce aggregate size more than other types, such as the chisel.