As we celebrate the holidays and look forward to a new year, we have many precious natural resources in this country to appreciate. Our soils, water and air are second to none! We need to keep reminding ourselves in these turbulent times, how great a nation we are and how important our precious resources are to feeding the 7 billion plus people on this earth. As a country, we export one-third of our crops overseas, so many people depend on the USA to keep them fed. A common way to look at the importance of soils is to use an apple to represent the plant Earth. If the apple is sliced into four quarters, about 3 apple quarters or 75% of the earth is water located in oceans, lakes, and streams. The remaining one quarter apple slice represents the land area on Earth. Now cut that one quarter apple slice in half or into 1/8 sections. About 1/8 of Earth’s land is in swamps, deserts, mountainous areas, Arctic, and Antarctic areas that are not suitable for producing human food or for human hab...