It clings to the hooves of our thoroughbreds. It embraces the roots of our bluegrass. It spans from the banks of the Ohio to the foothills of Appalachia. It is Kentucky's greatest natural resource and it's right under our feet. Kentucky soil provides the nutrients necessary to feed Kentucky families, purifies the water that sustains Kentucky's environment, and serves as a home and an asset to Kentucky's wildlife.
When treated right, Kentucky soil provides the nutrients necessary for our vast abundance of agriculture to thrive and flourish. It supplied thirteen of the sixteen minerals necessary to grow the crops that fed Daniel Boone during his exploration of Kentucky in the eighteenth century. It sustained the crops that have helped Kentucky tobacco farmers live decent lives in the rural setting of Kentucky's beautiful farmland. Without it, Rose Will Monroe would have starved in her Pulaski County home long before she became the American feminist icon of World War II, and Thomas Hunt Morgan would have been too busy trying to recover his father's farm to win a Nobel Prize in genetic research in 1933.
Kentucky soil has nourished the crops that have fed Kentucky families for centuries, and Kentucky just wouldn't be the same without it. However, pollution and erosion are taking their toll on our age-old friend, and if we don't do something about it, Kentucky will never find out what potential is invested in the generations to come. For there will not be enough nutrients in the soil to provide food for tomorrow's leaders and explorers, and the world will never see Kentucky's next great politician, scientist, artist or athlete.
Much like the people who live here, Kentucky's plants and animals depend heavily on our water supply. Fortunately, this state is laced with great clean bodies of water. Soil helps to keep these tributaries clean by filtering out most of the minerals and silt in our waterways.