Spanish Researchers Calculating Soil Footprint of Crops

Researchers at the University of Córdoba in Spain are proposing a method to calculate, compare and communicate how different crops affect the loss of agricultural soil. While concepts like the carbon footprint or water footprint of different crops are well understood, the soil-erosion effects that particular crops have are less recognized. These scientists developed the soil footprint concept, calculated by dividing the erosion rate of a crop by its degree of productivity, to raise consumer awareness of the origin of food and its costs, promoting changes in consumption habits. They say that building demand for foods that do not erode soil can encourage the productive sector to adopt sustainable production models. So far, their analysis has shown that olive trees are the crop with the biggest soil footprint, followed by cherry trees and wheat. At the opposite end of the scale, the crops with the smallest soil footprint identified to date are onions, potatoes, and oranges.