Natural Occurrence or Human Caused

Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

Monday, May 1, 2023, is a date that many who live near Springfield, IL will remember for a long time.  On that day a massive dust storm occurred that cost the lives of 8 people (one just died in the hospital), injured at least 37 people and damaged more than 70 vehicles.  The deaths and injuries involved people ranging in age from 2 to 88. 

The tragedy occurred along a stretch of I-55 about 75 miles north of St. Louis, near Farmersville, IL, a small community south of Springfield.  Wind gusts were recorded between 35 mph and 45 mph, according to the National Weather Service.  

Here are some of the statements from the Illinois State Police regarding the tragedy. 7 dead, 37 hospitalized after blinding dust storm causes pileups on Illinois highway (nbcnews.com)

  • "The severity of the crash masked the remains and what was previously believed to be the remains of one individual was two," the agency said.
  • Officials said vehicles were so mangled, with some in flames immediately after the pileups, that criminal investigative techniques have been deployed to identify some of the victims.
  • "Due to the severity of the crash and the fire, we have activated our crime scene services and traffic crash reconstruction units," state police said by email Tuesday. 
  • The collisions, reported just before 11 a.m. Monday, involved 72 vehicles in multiple pileups along a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 55 north of Farmersville, state police said.
  • "The cause of the crash is due to excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway leading to zero visibility," State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said at a news conference.

Where did the dust come from?  It’s spring in Illinois and farm fields are being tilled in preparation for planting corn and soybeans.  This incident has been characterized by some in the media and in agriculture as a “natural occurrence” due to “high winds”.   The fact is winds in excess of 35-45 mph happen routinely with strong storm systems.  That is normal throughout the southern U.S. with summer thunderstorms.  During tropical storms and hurricanes, we often see winds in excess of 60-70 mph.  What we do not see on our farm, or on any farm where the soil is covered with living plants, is a dust storm.  

With regard to wind and water erosion, we simply need to look in the mirror to determine the cause and stop blaming nature and natural occurrences.  It is estimated that the farms affected by this particular dust storm lost between 10 and 20 tons of topsoil per acre.  What is the value of that lost topsoil?  How can it be replaced?  

I am going to first ask the hard questions and then examine how we can prevent things like this.  To start, dust storms of significant magnitude are becoming more frequent and more intense.  I started noticing these occurrences in 2011.  The picture below shows a massive dust storm on the border between Kansas and Colorado on May 19, 2022.  It is too easy to google “dust storms” and get a long list of articles and video footage of these incidents across a wide swath of the U.S Massive dust storm hits Phoenix - YouTube

Many of you may recall the dust storms that occurred in Kansas in December of 2021 and 2022.  Why are we having dust storms in the winter?  WATCH: Massive dust storm swallows towns in western Kansas (ksn.com)

Dust storm on border of Kansas and Colorado.  May 91, 2022.

Why are some characterizing these dust storms and even some of the massive water erosion events as “Natural occurrences”?  When will we take responsibility?  When will we hold our fellow farmers responsible and start teaching them there is a better way?  

I have heard too many farmers make statements similar to these during my lifetime:

  • “It is my land, and I can do what I want.”
  • “What I do on my own land is my business and no one else’s.”
  • I’m not harming anyone else by what I do on my own land.”

The fact is most row crop farmers own only a small percentage of the land they farm.  They are leasing the majority of their acres.  In the case of the May 1 Illinois dust storm, most of the acres that were blowing were leased acres.  The landowner(s) were not the farmers.  

Farmers now make up less than 1% of the total population in the U.S.  What we do on our owned land and on leased land does matter and it does affect many others.  It also affects a plethora of other life.  

There will come a day when we, as farmers, will be held liable for incidents like this.  This will be tested in our courts.  Civil lawsuits will be filed.  Landowners will hold the farmers leasing their land responsible for losing topsoil to wind and water erosion.  

In the 1930’s we experienced the Dust Bowl that ruined the lives of many in the Midwest.  Now, we are in the midst of the second U.S. Dust Bowl.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We are in a second Dust Bowl.  Take a look at the side-by-side pictures below and tell me what we have learned in the years between the 1930’s and now.  

Colorado dust storm – 2014.

Kansas Dust Storm – April 1935.

There is one major difference that we can easily see in the pictures.  Can you tell what it is?  It is the color of the soil blowing away.  In the 1903’s we were blowing real topsoil away.  Soils that were high in carbon.  Now, we are blowing away B horizon soil.  Look at the color difference.  The soil was much darker in the 1930’s compared to today.  

How do we prevent things like this?  The solution is as simple as keeping our soil covered with cover crops in between cash crops and moving to minimal till and No-Till.  Covered soil, anchored with living plant roots, does not blow. 

We need to educate ourselves and our fellow farmers on the basics of regenerative agriculture.  We all need to learn how to appropriately apply the regenerative principles on our own farms and then encourage our neighbors to do the same.  

We also need to address federal policy that encourages and facilitates poor farmer stewardship.  This is a real problem and creates more issues than it solves.  The farmers involved in this particular dust storm participate in many federal incentive programs.  They participate in the federal crop insurance program.  Yet, their soil still blew away.  They were not thinking, “My practices will cause a dust storm”.  They were simply trying to get fields prepared and crops planted.  They simply were not aware that there is a way to prevent this and that they have a degree of control that can be executed.  

We, as farmers, need to solve these problems before someone else tries to solve them for us.  We need to hold ourselves accountable and hold each other accountable.  We cannot ignore the problem and believe it will go away. 

The Land is Calling.

LIBERTAS LAND

Where the work of regeneration becomes the work of life.