Soil Health and Sustainability

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OVERVIEW

Increasing human populations, decreasing resources, social instability, and environmental degradation pose serious threats to the natural processes that sustain the global ecosphere and life on earth (Pearce and Warford, 1993). Agriculture, and society in general, is challenged to develop strategies for sustainability that conserve nonrenewable natural resources such as soil, enhance use of renewable resources, and are aligned with the natural processes that sustain life on earth. The challenge

GLOBAL FUNCTION AND SUSTAINABILITY

We enter the 21st century with greater awareness of our technological capability to influence the global environment and of the impending challenge for sustaining life on earth (Postel, 1994, Gore, 1993). Global climate change, depletion of the protective ozone layer, serious declines in species biodiversity, and degradation and loss of productive agricultural land are among the most pressing concerns associated with our technological search for a higher standard of living for ever-growing

EARLY SCHOLARS AND PHILOSOPHERS

Concepts related to soil health have been articulated since ancient times. Roman philosophers were especially aware of the importance of soil to agricultural prosperity, and reflected this awareness in their treatises on farm management. Cato, Varro, Virgil, and Columella stressed the value of soil and promoted agricultural practices that maintained its fertility. Having to work within boundaries of natural fertility, they keenly recognized that many soil attributes were a function of landscape

SOIL HEALTH AND HUMAN HEALTH

For much of modern agricultural history, the value of new farming techniques and products was judged primarily, if not solely, on their ability to increase food production. As discussed earlier, warnings of potential environmental damage associated with Modern agriculture were largely unheeded until recent decades. The concept that the method of food production can have an additional direct impact on animal and human health has recently developed, but only tentatively in scientific circles. The

PERCEPTIONS OF SOIL

While early civilizations and practitioners thought of the soil as a nurturing entity (Mother Earth), a life-giver if not a deity (Lal, 1994, Soule and Piper, 1992), modern agricultural science often treats the soil as a physical medium for anchoring plant roots, which can then be bathed in nutrient and growth regulator solutions. It has been well proven that crops can be grown under such management systems, just as they can be grown without soil at all, in hydroponically managed greenhouses.

ASSESSMENT OF SOIL QUALITY AND HEALTH

Establishing an ongoing assessment of the condition and health of our soil resources is vital to maintaining the sustainability of agriculture and civilization. As discussed earlier, the failure of several earlier civilizations was sealed by their disregard for the health of finite soil resources. In today’s energy- and technology-intensive world, the need for maintaining the health of our soil resources is imperative to sustaining productivity for increasing populations and in maintaining

A SHIFTING AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH PARADIGM

Successful integration of soil health concepts into farm management is a monumental task not unlike the soil conservation movement undertaken by Hugh H. Bennett, “father” of the USDA Soil Conservation Service, earlier this century. It will be necessary for public and private agricultural organizations to work together to ensure farmer adoption and legislator approval of management systems that sustain long-term soil productivity. Central to fulfilling this goal is the identification of

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Soil is a finite and dynamic living resource that acts as an interface between agriculture and the environment and is vital to global function. Soil health can be defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain the quality of air and water environments, and promote plant, animal, and human health. Advantages to giving value to soil health and its assessment include: (i)

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