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Did you know, 33% of the world’s soil is already degraded due to erosion? In fact, The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calls soil erosion the single biggest threat to global food security. 

In this blog, we share our top 5 videos on soil erosion. Click the link to skip to the video that interests you the most, or continue scrolling for the full list.  

1. Why the World is Running Out of Soil? 
2. Living Soil: A Documentary 
3. Soil Erosion: Process 
4. Soil Erosion Hits Farmers in the Midwest, Cost Billions 
5. Field Examples of Soil Erosion 

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Why the World is Running Out of soil? 

According to Smithsonian, “more than 50 billion tons of topsoil have eroded in the Midwest.” In this 12-minute video by CNBC Business News, Andrea Miller interviews soil experts from The Rodale Institute, The Soil Health Institute, farmers from the field, and others on soil erosion and what can be done to solve it.  

Living Soil: A Documentary 

“Our soil supports 9% of all food production, and by 2060, our soil will be asked to give us as much food as we have consumed in the last 500 years,” explains The Soil Health Institute. Soil filters our water, sequesters carbon, and serves as a foundation for biodiversity. Yet, “in the last 150 years, we’ve lost half of the basic building block that makes soil productive. The societal and environmental costs of soil loss and degradation in the United States alone are now estimated to be as high as $85 billion every year.”  

In this one-hour documentary, The Soil Health Institute, features discussions on soil health with innovative farmers and soil health experts throughout the U.S.  

Soil Erosion - Process

In this 4-minute video, North Dakota State University Extension soil specialists, Abbey Wick and Dave Frazen, and the University of Minnesota Extension educator, Jodi DeJong-Hughes, explain the process of soil erosion. They also look at how to reduce soil erosion on your farm, including residue cover, building soil particle size, windbreaks, and more.   

Soil Erosion Hits Farmers in the midwest, Costs Billions Annually 

Soil erosion is causing serious problems for farmers in the American Midwest. Topsoil erodes by approximately two millimeters (about the width of a nickle) per year. Two millimeters may not sound like much, but researchers say that the small, gradual erosion is adding up over the years, and experts say it’s costing farmers billions of dollars every year.  

In this 3.5-minute video, CNBC reporter, Perry Russel, reports from Iowa on what farmers are doing to rebuild the soil.  

Field Examples of Soil Erosion 

In this 6-minute video, NDSU Extension Soil Health Specialist Abbey Wick, UMN Extension Educator Jodi DeJong-Hughes, and NDSU Extension Soil Specialist Dave Franzen look at how management impacts soil erosion and discuss how growers can reduce erosion on farm. The group visited five fields in the northern Red River Valley on a windy, wintery North Dakota day. 

Want To Dig Deeper? 

If you want to learn more about soil erosion and different solutions farmers are using to combat soil erosion in their fields, be sure to check out this 5-minute read. In this blog, we discuss how soil erosion affects farmers and the environment, the leading causes of soil erosion, and potential solutions to offset soil erosion.  

>>Read about soil erosion here