And, soil erosion independently causes extinction.

Topsoil is crucial to agriculture. The first step-creating and conserving healthy soil-is the foundation of a sustainable agriculture. It is closely linked to the next two steps-conserving water and protecting its quality, and managing organic wastes and farm chemicals so they don’t pollute. How well agriculture manages soil, water, and organic wastes will determine its future health. Conserving healthy soil by guarding it against erosion or other forces that would degrade it is the most basic step. This step has as its corollary actively building soil health, because soil used for agricultural purposes today is not as healthy as it could be. It is both less diverse and less active biologically. Without healthy topsoil, the world cannot begin to feed its billions. Although American popular culture discourse in recent years has speculated on the fate of life on earth in case of alien invasion, asteroid bombardments, or rampaging killer viruses, the slow loss of quality soil is more of a threat to life on the planet than any of these scenarios.