[alexanderstears]

No kidding.

When I was younger, my parents moved out into the country and they bought a lot that had been intensively overgrazed and over farmed. Our neighbor farmed hay / alfalfa for the nearby dairy farms and he told us it would be centuries until the land could support a crop.

The 'dirt' was dust, rocks, and fossilized manure. Within 3 years of being let alone it recovered enough to support the hardier plants and weeds, that winter we planted barley and rye to add organic matter, compete with the weeds, and put some roots in the soil to stop erosion. After that, it came back with a vengeance. 7 years after our neighbor said it'd be centuries until we could grow anything on it, he bought the rights to plant alfalfa on some of the lot.

I have no doubt that people could manage the soil better, but things return to nature pretty quick especially if you can help nature do what it's trying to do.