vital component of agricultural and environmental sciences in Europe, with a current EC strategy and publicly-funded research program to protect Europe's soils from erosion and degradation and ensure sustainable use (EC, 2006).
     Extensive and detailed mapping of US and European soils was initiated following World War II and today has evolved into comprehensive, digital national maps of soils in many countries across NAE. This has resulted in more appropriate land use based on soil classification (e.g., rough pasture, arable land). Over the last three decades, there has been an evolution to, assemblage and development of long-term soil resource assessment technologies that are land or ecological. This is especially applicable to forestry management in both the US and Canada (Hills, 1952; Smal-ley, 1986; O'Neil et al., 2005). Since 1945, there has been development and refinement of soil and water conservation technologies (USDA-SCS, 1955; USD A, 1957; Troeh et al., 1980; USDA-NRCS, 1996; Weesies et al., 2002).
     There is greater appreciation of the value of manures and sludge for providing both nutrients and organic matter to soils used for crop production. Proper application rates have been increasingly understood to minimize movement of nutrients off site, which could cause adverse ecological effects, e.g., eutrophication elsewhere. Organic systems are sometimes thought to lead to increased manure runoff, due to their increased reliance on organic fertilizers (Stolze et al., 2000). However, studies from the UK at least (Shepherd et al., 2003) indicate that awareness of the problem has largely alleviated it. In addition, the reduced excess of nutrients on organic farms can have beneficial effects on water quality via reduced nutrient runoff (Shepherd et al., 2003).

2.4.2 Changes in cropping systems in NAE
Increased productivity is the key change in NAE cropping systems.  Arable  crops,  especially the  major commodity small grain crops, such as wheat, barley and maize along with the oilseed crops (soybeans, oilseed rape, sunflower), the legumes (peas, beans) and root crops (sugar beet, pota­toes) have formed the backbone of crop production in the NAE while fruits and vegetables, with their great range of crops, from lettuces to apple trees, make up the remaining production sector. Over the last 50 years there has been some change in the proportions of different crops grown, such as the increase in oilseed production, but the overall area of agricultural land has not increased during this peri­od. In fact, data from FAOSTAT indicates an approximately 10% reduction in agricultural lands for the EU(15) and for the USA between 1961 and 2003, with a lesser decline in Canada. In the CEE, the amount of land in agricultural use initially remained constant after the end of the Socialist era, although today there seems to be increase in the amount of uncultivated land across the region, which by certain estimates amount up to 30% in some countries (OECD, 2001).
     Despite stable or declining arable land, production of virtually all crops has increased significantly (Figure 2-8), in some cases more than doubling, in NAE during this time. The increases in production, particularly in Western Europe and North America, have been stimulated by the increas­ing demands for food from the rising NAE population dur­ing the last 50 years. This was particularly important in the

1950s, as there were real food shortages in many countries in the years following World War II. Post-war agricultural conditions in the Soviet Union were dire, with famine condi­tions in 1946-47 (Medvedev, 1987) and per capita produc­tion of grain and meat below 1913 levels. These conditions were due to the direct destruction of farming and food dis­tribution resources in CEE. In the western NAE, the contin­ued momentum to increase production was encouraged by the politically driven agricultural financial support systems in Western Europe and USA (see 2.2), aimed at ensuring the continued viability of the rural economy. The Soviet Union turned to centralized planning, collectivization and ultimately the Virgin Land Program, when 36 million ha in dry areas were ploughed and sowed in the late 1950s to increase grain production.
     Although production lagged behind that in Western Eu­rope and most of the world, CEE farms steadily increased arable production from 1945 to 1980 (Lerman et al., 2003). In the Soviet Union, by the mid-1950s cereal production exceeded the 1913 level and between 1950 and 1970 rose by more than 2.3 times to 186.8 million tonnes (Goskon-stat,  1971). After the breakdown of the collective farm system, there was a rapid decline in productivity starting in 1991, with large areas of arable land essentially left un-farmed. For instance, up to 40% of arable land in the Baltic States was abandoned in the 1990s, with a similar decrease in agricultural output (Lerman et al., 2003). This in turn led to a 38% decrease in per capita income in rural areas. Far less land was abandoned in Hungary and Poland where markets were more robust. There has been a recovery in production in most CEE countries, but production levels in the smaller countries are still only at 1960s levels (Ler­man et al., 2003). Farmland in the larger countries, espe­cially in eastern Germany, Hungary and Poland, was seen by investors from Western Europe as having good poten­tial for further increases in production by applying mod­ern technology and having relatively low labor costs. Some areas of arable farmland in these countries are increasingly owned by Western consortia. Most CEE countries are now members of EU-27 and EU management of CEE grain pro­duction is expected to increase it by around 25%, an in­crease of some 50 million tonnes. This increase has already become apparent in places like eastern Germany where yields of all grains now equal or exceed those in Western Germany.
     Another factor in increased crop production in NAE has been the increasing demand for meat, (see discussion in 2.5) coupled with the increasing intensification of meat production often resulting in intensive housed systems, re­quiring large quantities of grain, protein and oilseeds. In­creased crop production was facilitated by, and to some extent stimulated by, the development of new cultivars and technologies aimed at increasing yields and decreasing yield threats from biotic and abiotic factors (e.g., pest and disease attack, weather impacts on crop growth and harvesting). Research on crop production inputs and the dissemination of the information to farmers has played a key role in pro­viding tools for farmers to increase their production. The major contributors to these yield increases are:
1.    Breeding of higher yielding cultivars and the adoption of high-yielding hybrid seeds for planting;