Reversing soil degradation by 10% could feed 70 million more, global analysis finds

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A global study highlights that reversing human-made soil degradation by 10% could increase Earth's arable land capacity to feed an additional 70 million people. The research identifies erosion, dehydration, and soil compaction as major threats to food security worldwide.

Factors such as erosion, dehydration and soil compaction are jeopardizing food supplies for broad swaths of the world's population, according to a study by the University of Bonn, the University of Minnesota, the University of Basel and Hamburg University of Technology. If human-made soil degradation were reversed by 10%, Earth's arable land could feed an extra 70 million or so people in purely mathematical terms. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Food.