I should clarify that my perspective is coming from a strictly American point of view, where only 15% of crop ground is irrigated, and the percentage of owner-o

I should clarify that my perspective is coming from a strictly American point of view, where only 15% of crop ground is irrigated, and the percentage of owner-operated land is around 60%. To be honest I don't even know how to begin sourcing the claims you are asking about. Do I need a source to tell you that over-applying fertilizer and pesticides is expensive? So much so that it is a very real risk to find yourself in a situation where the sum costs of your inputs can easily overshadow the yield of a field on a bad year? Do I need a source to say that farmers want to avoid that situation, and that those with the means invest heavily to do exactly that? The other point, around sustainability of soil quality is one of the most common misconceptions I see on sites like this. There seems to be this idea that there's some boogeyman hiding on the 20 year horizon that we are headed towards because of our extraction from the soil. The truth is that you don't have to wait that long at all. Everyone knows a neighbor or friend of a friend that got sloppy with crop rotations, or waterway maintenance or nutrient deficiencies. Its not some unpaid externality. You don't get away with it for long – it costs you dearly when it's your own land and it only takes a few years.