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Science 24 February 1995:
Vol. 267. no. 5201, pp. 1117 - 1123
DOI: 10.1126/science.267.5201.1117
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Articles

Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits

David Pimentel 1, C. Harvey 1, P. Resosudarmo 1, K. Sinclair 1, D. Kurz 1, M. McNair 1, S. Crist 1, L. Shpritz 1, L. Fitton 1, R. Saffouri 1, and R. Blair 1

1 5126 Comstock Hall, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853-0901, USA.

Soil erosion is a major environmental threat to the sustainability and productive capacity of agriculture. During the last 40 years, nearly one-third of the world's arable land has been lost by erosion and continues to be lost at a rate of more than 10 million hectares per year. With the addition of a quarter of a million people each day, the world population's food demand is increasing at a time when per capita food productivity is beginning to decline.


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