Let It Rot to New Soil


I live in the breadbasket of Virginia’s agriculture, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. For years I’ve worked on composting projects—most recently hauling tarps full of leaves to a neighbor’s pile. A simple act, yet it reflects a larger imbalance: rural areas are saturated with nitrogen waste, while cities accumulate excess carbon. The result is a double burden—carbon pollution concentrated in urban centers and nitrogen pollution spilling across ecosystems.

A few generations ago, America’s farmland was blanketed with hundreds of inches of rich topsoil. Today, only fragments remain. Each storm strips away more of this foundation of life, carrying billions of tons of soil into rivers and bays. What was once the nation’s greatest natural asset is vanishing before our eyes.

The United States loses an estimated 1.7 to 2.3 billion tons of soil every year to runoff and erosion. Agricultural land—especially corn, soybean, and wheat fields—suffers the highest losses. This is not just an environmental crisis; it is an economic one. Soil erosion drains $44 billion annually from the U.S. economy, cutting into farmers’ incomes and forcing society to pay for sediment cleanup and damaged infrastructure.

Yet the solution lies literally under our feet. Compost—the oldest fertilizer known to humankind—binds soil, reduces runoff, and filters pollutants. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, which often worsen contamination, compost stabilizes and enriches soils while turning waste into resilience. Every ton of soil lost is not just dirt—it is food security weakened, public health endangered, and community legacy erased.

The waste problem compounds the crisis. In the U.S., food waste makes up 24% of municipal solid waste—more than any other material. Families discard 11–40% of their food purchases. Landfills, in turn, are the third‑largest source of methane emissions, responsible for about 17% of the nation’s total. Worldwide, 40% of farmland is degraded. Add to this the 1.4 billion tons of livestock manure produced annually, and the scale of mismanaged organic matter becomes staggering.

But there is hope. Organic farming—now a $64 billion industry—proves that alternatives exist. By investing in soil health, reducing waste, and demanding performance‑based erosion control, we can protect our waters, restore our farmland, and secure a sustainable future.

Compost is not nostalgia—it is a necessity. The choice is ours: continue eroding the foundation of life, or rebuild it with the wisdom of nature. Let it rot, and let it renew.


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