Flood damage is caused by two processes: erosion and inundation. Erosion is the process by which materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. Inundation is the rising of a body of water and it overflowing onto normally dry land. It causes damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Human land use policies also have had an effect on erosion and inundation, especially industrial agriculture, deforestation, and urban sprawl. Land that is used for industrial agriculture generally experiences a significantly greater rate of erosion than that of land under natural vegetation.
Erosion is a natural process and a certain amount of erosion is natural and, in fact, healthy for the ecosystem. Excessive erosion, however, causes serious problems, such as receiving water sedimentation, ecosystem damage and outright loss of soil.

History has shown that extreme hydrological events such as flood and droughts can create additional stress on water supplies essential for human and ecosystem health.

Drought is not a purely physical phenomenon, but interplay between natural water availability and human demands for water supply. As the demand for water resources increase, so the pressure on water continues to grow. We are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the effects of periods without rainfall.

Floods and droughts have caused, and continue to cause, serious economic and environmental losses. These events are the result of both natural disasters and human actions. Due to droughts, there is an increasing need to emphasize prevention, preparedness, mitigation, and risk management to respond to these events. We need to protect both the environment and economy.

We decided to visit 10 states and learn something about Agriculture unique to each area.

1. Georgia is commonly known as “The Peach State.” But did you know the state produces almost half of all the peanuts in the U.S. each year?
2. Did you know that Alabama is home to the oldest continuous cotton rotation, which Started in 1896?
3. The Artichoke is the official vegetable of Monterrey County, California. Today, California provides nearly 100% of the artichokes in the U.S.
4. The high level of volcanic ash in the soil throughout most of the Idaho state is highly favourable for growing potatoes.
5. There are 65,531 farms in Kansas.
6. There are over 320,000 horses in the state of Kentucky.
7. Over 90% of privately held land in Montana is used for farming.
8. New York is the 3rd leading dairy producing state.
9. Ohio is the No.1 producer of Swiss cheese and home to the world’s largest yogurt plant in Minster.
10. In Vermont, Agri-tourism is the state’s second largest crop!