International Soil Reference and Information Centre, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Erosion is the number one factor degrading soils globally. Erosion is a process where wind and water facilitate the movement of top soil from one place to another. Water erosion is more detrimental to soils globally both by the volume of soil removed and area of land influenced. Above-ground parts of plants, like stems and leaves, reduce the potential of wind and water to erode soils by acting as barriers to these mediums.
Plants can also reduce erosion by binding and anchoring soil particles to roots.
Agriculture increases the risk of erosion through its disturbance of vegetation by way of land-use conversion, tilling or overgrazing. Many farmers prepare land by tilling or ploughing their fields to produce a smooth planting surface devoid or vegetation. This process, however, creates a soil surface that is very vulnerable to erosion. In Canada and the United States, some farmers have been using a technique known as conservation tillage or zero tillage to reduce the erosion problem. This technique uses special machinery and herbicides to plant crops with minimal disturbance to the soil surface.