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Soil sciences “key to farming in the future"
Author: Jorisna Bonthuys
Published: 14/05/2018

Agricultural research represents “the most complex integration of science disciplines in research and development endeavours”, according to Prof Leopoldt van Huyssteen, emeritus professor in the Department of Soil Sciences at Stellenbosch University.  

Prof Van Huyssteen delivered a memorial lecture on 4 May as part of the Faculty of AgriSciences’ centenary celebrations on campus. He reflected on 100 years of learning, research and teaching in the department.  

Soil scientists are increasingly asked for input into real problems and putting science to work. “To meet these complex challenges, soil scientists will need to become more holistic in their approach,” he said. “While working in close association with anthropologists, sociologists, economists, entomologists, plant pathologists, conservationists as well as weed and other crop agronomists, they will need to keep one foot in the field.” 

Soil is important for many reasons, he emphasised. It provides the foundation for things needed for our daily living, such as food, animal feed, fuel and natural fibre production, the supply of clean water, nutrient cycling, and a range of ecosystem functions. Soil is also a finite natural resource and non-renewable on a human timescale. The area of fertile soils covering the world's surface is limited and increasingly subject to degradation, poor management and loss to urbanisation.  

Prof Van Huyssteen also considered how we regard soil. “Is it seen as the great equaliser for malpractices, or as the final frontier for many wrong uses and abuses, or is it  simply the dump site for our waste?”, he asked. “Soil is an essential natural resource. It filters water and waste, produces and absorbs gases and provides a home to organisms. It is also a medium for crop production and root growth, a waste decomposer and a source material for construction, art, and medicine. Soil is also the footprint of our geological, climatic, biological, and human history.” 

Prof Van Huyssteen considers soil science “an indispensable field of study” for sustainable food production into the future. Numerous aspects of science and those of sociology are crucial to the relevance and value of soil science, he said. “The role of soils can be viewed as a set of trade-offs among the various functions of soils as determined by current society. If conservation and rational use of soil resources are not important enough for society in future, then the trade-offs may keep us headed toward the ‘tragedy of the global commons’. 

“Soil also wears its problems – our footprints – on the surface,” he said. In this context, more land was converted to cropland in the last 50 years than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850. During this period freshwater withdrawals doubled (70% for agriculture), and water impoundments behind dams quadrupled. Almost half of all synthetic fertilisers have been used since 1985. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 has also increased by 32% since 1750, with approximately 60% of this since 1959. 

Research in soil sciences has many uses, he emphasised. This ranges from being an aid in criminal investigations to the linkages of soil science with socio-economics. “Soil scientists have to learn that their work should be much more related to socio-economics than in the past. Soil science is contributing to short-term return on investments and taxes, but in particular to avoid long-term costs,” he said. 

Feeding the world’s growing population will, for instance, not be possible without proper soil management. “A food-insecure population of 850 million in 2006 and increasing, along with several billion people suffering from hidden hunger, leave no cause for complacency,” he pointed out. “The projected food grain deficit must, for instance, be met through improved systems of soil management, and adoption of land-saving technologies through agricultural intensification in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere where extractive farming is widely practised.” 

Prof Van Huyssteen believes that in future soil science will probably be a more complex and integrative science than presently, having a wider scope with a multidisciplinary approach to associate traditional aspects with more innovative ones (soil ecology, ‘soil economy’, etc.). “We, soil scientists, have to be in a leading position to respond the challenges of the 21st century. Our success might not depend so much on technical improvement but rather on a shift in some of our present basic concepts and paradigms.

“It is imperative that soil scientists should transcend from the reductionist and isolated approach of concentrating mostly on agriculture and forestry as in the past and present,” he continued. “Soil is now recognised as a key environmental component that can be easily abused and lost. It is recognised as a finite resource. Soil scientists in the 21st century must be ready and able to provide information to other scientists and those setting the political agenda on how to avoid the abuse of soil and how to optimise the role of soil in a broader environmental context.  

“A healthy soil is the basis for a strong economy and a wholesome environment. However, soil is subjected to serious abuse that causes degradation and contamination.” 

There are many issues facing society today that are related either directly or indirectly to soil science, he pointed out. Some of these issues cut across many different scales and political levels and include the implementation of the ‘Internet of Things’ in the agricultural industry. Using sensor networks, one can quickly obtain real-time and accurate farmland environment data. “This can help to provide precise, large-scale automation of management and control, and inform farm-management decisions,” he concluded.