Larry Cihacek Extension and research soils scientist at North Dakota State University. Cihacek says years of tillage have taken its toll on organic matter. Erosion has been an evolutionary. A certain amount of erosion can be good.
Mountains erode away, washing or blowing into the flat lands and becoming productive soil.
Cihacek says research at NDSU has examined the differences in the soil characteristics of eroded hilltop soils and compared them with areas of adjacent non-eroded soils. Measurements of grain yields showed that the eroded sites produced 28 percent less grain than the non-eroded sites in 1986 and 10 percent less in 1987. In yield is lost. Cihacek says the Conservation Reserve Program should help reduce erosion and the loss of organic matter. Cihacek says organic matter is tough to build up once it lis lost.