Approaches to Soil Health Analysis, Volume 1. Группа авторов

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Approaches to Soil Health Analysis, Volume 1 - Группа авторов


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procedures, or services by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favored status by the SSSA. The views and opinions of the author(s) expressed in this publication do not necessarily state or reflect those of SSSA, and they shall not be used to advertise or endorse any product.

      Editorial Correspondence: Soil Science Society of America, Inc. 5585 Guilford Road, Madison, WI 53711‐58011, USA soils.org

      Registered Offices: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA

      For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products, visit us at www.wiley.com.

      Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats.

      Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data applied for Paperback: 9780891189800 doi: 10.2136/soilhealth.vol1

      Cover Design: Wiley

      Cover Image: © Joshua Miller, DPH, PhD, Steve Culman, Timothy Clough, Pedro Ferrari Machado, Negar Tafti

      Dedication

      These books are dedicated to Dr. John W. Doran, a retired USDA‐ARS (Agricultural Research Service) Research Soil Scientist whose profound insight provided international inspiration to strive to understand the capacity of our fragile soil resources to function within ecosystem boundaries, sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health.

      Understanding and quantifying soil health is a journey for everyone. Even for John, who early in his career believed soil quality was too abstract to be defined or measured. He initially thought soil quality was simply too dependent on numerous, uncontrollable factors, including land use decisions, ecosystem or environmental interactions, soil and plant management practices, and political or socioeconomic priorities. In the 1990s, John pivoted, stating he now recognized and encouraged the global soil science community to move forward, even though perceptions of what constitutes a good soil vary widely depending on individual priorities with respect to soil function. Continuing, he stated that to manage and maintain our soils in an acceptable state for future generations, soil quality (soil health) must be defined, and the definition must be broad enough to encompass the many facets of soil function.

      Throughout his life, John endeavored to involve all Earth's people, no matter their material wealth or status, in translating their lifestyles to practices that strengthen social equity and care for the earth we call home. Through development of the “soil quality test kit” John fostered transformation of soil quality into soil health by taking his science to farmers, ranchers, and other land managers. These two volumes have been prepared with that audience in mind to reflect the progress made during the past 25 years. Special thanks are also extended to John’s life mate Janet, daughter Karin, son‐in‐law Michael, grandchildren Drew and Fayth, and all of his friends for their encouragement, patience and support as he continues his search for the “holy grail” of soil health. Without John’s inspiration and dedication, who knows if science and concern for our fragile soil resources would have evolved as it has.

      Thank you, John – you are an inspiration to all of us!

      

      Foreword

      Soil science receives increasing attention by the international policy arena and publication of this comprehensive “Soil Health” book by the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and Wiley International is therefore most welcome at this point in time. Striving for consensus on methods to assess soil health is important in positioning soil science in a societal and political discourse that, currently, only a few other scientific disciplines are deeply engaged in. Specifically, increasing the focus on sustainable development provides a suitable “point on the horizon” that provides a much needed focus for a wide range of activities. Sustainable development has long been a likeable, but still rather abstract concept. The United Nations General Assembly acceptance of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 193 Governments in 2015 changed the status of sustainable development by not only specifying the goals but also defining targets, indicators, and seeking commitments to reach those goals by 2030 (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment‐goals). In Europe, the Green Deal, accepted in 2019, has targets and indicators corresponding to those of the SDGs (https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/european‐green‐dealsoil).

      These volumes provide an inspiring source of information to further evaluate the soil health concept, derive quantitative procedures that will allow more effective interaction among land users, and information needed to introduce soil science into laws and regulations. The introductory chapters of Volume 1 present a lucid and highly informative overview of the evolution of the soil health movement. Other chapters discuss data


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