Soil conservation is the protection of soil against excessive loss of fertility by natural, chemical, or artificial means. It encompasses all management and land-use methods protecting soil against degradation, focusing on damage by erosion and chemicals. Soil conservation techniques can be divided into six categories, crop selection and rotation, fertilizer and lime application, tilth, residue management, contouring and strip cropping, and mechanical (e.g., terracing).

While the potential dangers of chemical degradation and soil erosion were recognized as early as the American Revolution, it was not until the early 1930s that soil conservation became a familiar term. The soil conservation movement was a result of the droughts during the 1930s, the effects of water erosion, the terrific dust storms created by wind erosion in the Great Plains, and by the urging of Hugh Hammond Bennett.

Dr. Bennett, a soil scientist from North Carolina, recognized the erosion...