The severity of the problem is enormous, as borne out by some rather grim statistics. Reliable estimates contend that up to half of America's topsoil has run to the rivers and seas since the white settlement of this continent. First, contrary to the thinking implicit in this question, the damaging and widespread effects of soil erosion have already appeared numerous times. These are the lands from whence our western civilization arose. Secondly, the question itself reflects the seriousness of the problem.
Food depends on soil.
Agricultural use of fossil fuel inputs cannot mask the true costs of soil loss forever, and the confidence in a future high-tech soil alternative is sorely misplaced. We can no more manufacture a soil with a tank of chemicals than we can invent a rainforest or produce a single bird. In short, soil is the only medium in which enough plants will grow to capture and convert sunlight into the food we need. Jackson is quick to point out that Natural Systems Agriculture is an entirely new paradigm of food production rather than a type of sustainable agriculture. NSA begins by looking at what nature produces in an area when left unmolested.