I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the claim. The amount of land needed to grow the corn necessary will deplete the topsoil at a more rapid rate. Once it’s gone, you won’t have the ability to farm it.
This is another of the specious claims.
Look, if increased production “depleted” topsoil, then where would we be today, since we’ve increased yields almost 100% in the 20th century?
Most all of these claims are rubbish. Depleted topsoil highest among them. Today’s farmers have shifted to no-till practices in the last 40 years to prevent the #1 way of losing topsoil: wind erosion. Farming in a no-till system acutally builds soil tilth by leaving the stubble and root of the crop in the soil for next year.
If topsoil were depleted, you’d see yields per acre go down, not up. And we’re clearly seeing a steady trend of increasing yields per acre, not a decrease.
I’m quick to dismiss these claims because they’re so easily disproven. Demolishing these claims is like shooting fish in a 5-gallon bucket.
With a 12 gauge.
Twice.