Soil Erosion Van Buren County Iowa, May 2011

This one is an interesting example because of what it represents. The guy farming it does not own the land. He rents thousands of acres in several counties and plants it as fast as can be done. It is farmed straight across and up and down with large fast moving equipment. The last several years this ground gets groomed by the renter first with abull dozer to close in the ruts in the waterways eroded out of the preceding year. Topsoil is gathered from ground around the ruts to fill the ruts in making the field smooth to drive across again. After the dozer work and some cultivating you'd never know the scale of the erosion that had happened. Then come spring everything is sprayed over with an herbicide to kill everything growing, including where grass-waterways would have traditionally been kept to slow and hold the water and soil. The farmer comes in and plants. Harvests later in the year and leaves the land open. The landowner lives out of state. This is not an uncommon relationship to the land anymore.