Question

Which quotation from the article best highlights the current health of soil?

A. "Creating one millimeter of soil coverage can take anything from a few years to an entire millennium." (Paragraph 2)
B. "A healthy soil is a living ecosystem in which dead organic matter forms the base of a food web consisting of microscopic and larger organisms." (Paragraph 4)
C. "About two-thirds of agricultural land in Australia is suffering from degradation, which includes the loss of nutrients." (Paragraph 17)
D. "The American 'Dust Bowl' of the 1930s caused soil blown from Midwestern farms to color the skies over New York and Boston." (Paragraph 18)

Answer 1

Option C, which notes that about two-thirds of agricultural land in Australia is suffering from degradation, provides the most direct evidence of the current health of soil.

Step-by-step explanation:

The quotation from the article that best highlights the current health of soil is option C: "About two-thirds of agricultural land in Australia is suffering from degradation, which includes the loss of nutrients." (Paragraph 17). This statement directly addresses the condition of the soil in a specific large-scale and modern context, indicating a prevalence of soil degradation and nutrient loss.

Option A talks about soil formation time frames and does not directly comment on the soil's current health. Option B describes what constitutes a healthy soil ecosystem, and Option D provides a historical example of soil degradation without explicitly discussing the present state of soil. Therefore, C is the most relevant choice for shedding light on the current health of soils, particularly when considering soil quality and sustainability in agricultural practices.