We said American topsoil was washing away faster than ever. The federal record says it has fallen by two thirds.

What changed, when, and why each change was an improvement. Oldest first.

1. Version 1June 2, 2026 at 22:49Cora Lind178 words

   First published.

   The version this publication started from. Recorded when the ledger was built, on 20 August 2026, so the archive has a floor rather than appearing unedited.

2. Version 2August 21, 2026 at 06:51Cora Lind600 words

   Rewritten from 136 words to 585, around the USDA's own long-run measurements: 14.9 tons per acre per year in 1930, 7.8 in 1982, 6.3 in 1992, 4.63 in 2017. The original claim — that topsoil is eroding 10 to 40 times faster than it forms and accelerating — was unsourced and points the opposite way to the federal record. A correction now sits at the top of the piece, and the figure shows the four measurements.

   We published a number we could not source, in a direction the evidence does not support, and left it up for eleven weeks. Correcting it in public with the primary series attached is the only version of this piece worth having — and the harder question it leaves open, about what remains in the soil that stayed, is stated as unanswered rather than filled with another ratio.

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