All the World's Topsoil Gone Within 60 Years
UN Food Official, 2014: All of the World's Top Soil 'Could Be Gone Within 60 Years'
On World Soil Day a senior FAO official put the planet's farming soil on a 60-year clock. The figure spread as '60 harvests left.' Soil scientists could not find its source.
What was claimed (paraphrase)
if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years
— Maria-Helena Semedo (deputy director-general, UN Food and Agriculture Organization) · said Dec 5, 2014 · due By 2074 (60 years from December 2014)
Due in 2074. The clock comes with a condition: 'if current rates of degradation continue.'
The fine print
The words are the reporter's summary of her remarks, so the quote is marked as a paraphrase. Scientific American: 'About a third of the world's soil has already been degraded.' What the Science Says on the 60-harvests line: 'These numbers also appear to be unfounded.' Other food clocks: worm-fish-2048, brown-china-grain-2030.