U.S. Pays Farmers Billions To Save The Soil. But It's Blowing Away
Right now, the government rents farmland to help protect soil and water. But once the land is farmed again, the benefits disappear. Environmentalists want to change that.
Neil Shook was relaxing at home in Woodworth, N.D., on a Saturday afternoon just over a week ago.
"My wife was outside and she yelled at me to come outside and take a look at this," he recalls.
A massive brown cloud covered the horizon to the west. It was a dust storm — although Shook, who's a scientist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, That soil cloud is a result of farming practices — and of government policies.
