| definition |
- Research on soil erosion and its effect on agricultural productivity started in
1930s. During 1940 and 1956, research scientists began to develop a
quantitative procedure for estimating soil loss in the Corn Belt in the United
States. Several factors were introduced to an early soil loss equation, in
which slope and practice were primarily considered. It was recognized that a
soil loss equation could have a great value for farm planning and the Corn Belt
equation could be adapted for other regions. In 1946, a group of erosion
specialists held a workshop in Ohio to reappraise the factors previously used
and added a rainfall factor. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) established the National Runoff and Soil Loss Data
Center at Purdue University in 1954 to locate, assemble, and consolidate all
available data throughout the United States. More than 10,000 plot-years of
basic runoff and soil loss data were then collected from U.S. federal-state
cooperative research projects in 49 U.S. locations.
Website: http://www.iwr.msu.edu/rusle/about.htm
Information provided by: RUSLE
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