Employing an effective cellular automata model, we investigate and analyzethe build-up and erosion of soil. Depending on the strategy employed forhandling agricultural production, in many cases we find a critical dependenceon the prescribed production target, with a sharp transition between stableproduction and complete breakdown of the system. Strategies which areparticularly well-suited for mimicking real-world management approaches canproduce almost cyclic behaviour, which can also either lead to sustainableproduction or to breakdown. While designed to describe the dynamics of soilevolution, this model is quite general and may also be useful as a model forother renewable resources and may even be employed in other disciplines likepsychology.
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