Modern farming assumes that the soil is a mostly sterile medium to dump both fertiliser and seed. Basically sand with a tiny bit of organic fluff. Firstly san

Modern farming assumes that the soil is a mostly sterile medium to dump both fertiliser and seed. Basically sand with a tiny bit of organic fluff. Firstly sand blows away, secondly it doesn't hold water anywhere near as well. This means that you need more drainage channels, which means you get more runoff, which means you need more fertiliser. _proper_ soil, with plenty of organic matter is both more porous _and_ able to absorb more water.