Switzerland’s 2014 “Agricultural Report” asserts that the fertility of Swiss agricultural lands is compromised in the long term, and that one of the major causes is water erosion. Yet, the problem of soil erosion is not recent. It has been studied for more than fifty years and included in agroenvironmental policy-making for more than twenty years. However, despite significant improvements, expe...

In permanent agricultural systems, soil fertility is maintained through applications of manure, other organic materials, inorganic fertilizers, lime, the inclusion of legumes in the cropping systems, or a combination of these. In many parts of the world the availability, use, and profitability of inorganic fertilizers have been low whereas there has been an intensification of land-use and an ex...

Soil erosion in vineyards has to be considered as an environmental concern as it depletes soil fertility and produces damages in the fields and downstream. High soil and water losses decrease soil quality, and subsequently, can reduce the quality of the grapes and wine. However, in specialized journals of viticulture and enology, soil erosion studies are not present. This paper surveys the soil...

the influence of wind erosion on soil productivity was studied applying fan-forced wind in a wind tunnel located in the campo de nijar area in se spain where the main crops are cereals. wind erosion is highly variable depending on the type of soil (aric-haplic calcisols, aric-calcaric cambisols or aric-calcic luvisols, according to iuss working group wrb, 2014) and the time elapsed since the la...

Restoring biological soil crusts (biocrusts) in degraded drylands can contribute to recovery of ecosystem functions that have global implications, including erosion resistance and nutrient cycling. To examine techniques for restoring biocrusts, we conducted a replicated, factorial experiment on recently abandoned road surfaces by applying biocrust inoculation (salvaged and stored dry for two ye...