Editorial
Earlier
this year I had the good fortune to spent three weeks at the Faculty of
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources of the University of Sydney, Australia.
Although primarily intended to work on a grant proposal, it was exciting to see
how much soil research Alex McBratney and his group have going. And it includes
all: field work, laboratory studies and a great deal of desk work. Some weeks
after my visit to
In
Sydney as well as Butare, I see a lot of hardworking, young students and
professional working on soils and aiming to tackle problems that land users
encounter. In doing so, they apply the best available technologies and at the
same time develop new methodologies. Of course, there is a difference in
applied and fundamental work but such distinction is in fact irrelevant. Problems
from cotton-based farming systems in New South Wales or coffee and maize
systems in Rwanda are not different - what matters is that soils are studied, that
the frontiers of our knowledge are moved, and that soil scientists contribute
to society and in the end: to a better world.
I bring
this up to illustrate something that many of us discuss frequently: the current
state of soil science and its future directions. There are appallingly negative
views and they are merely based on student numbers in a few countries. Indeed,
student numbers have decreased, departments of soil science have been renamed
and sometimes have been merged or closed. That is one side of the story and some
prophets think that soil science is about to die as a discipline.
What we
see, however, is a new generation of soil scientists that is perhaps partly submerged
in other departments but that delivers excellent work. Just look through any
recent issue of global soil science journal. Note that more and more is being
published (obviously some is dilution and repetition) but a clear indication
that a lot of work is going on and there are many papers that come from
non-traditional soil science groups or department. Soil science has branched
out and entered other scientific fields. At the same time, many soil science
papers appear in non-traditional soil science journals. It shows that soil
science is very alive! We see that other, non soil scientists, start doing soil
research. Some see a danger but many would agree that it are tremendous opportunities
and that we should offer our expertise to such groups.
The IUSS
has a key role to play in all these developments. Whether you are based in
Sydney or Butare it is important that you feel part of the global soil science
community and the IUSS, which supports all soil science activities across the
globe. The IUSS offers a forum (either in the Alert, Bulletin or in meetings)
to have your voice heard, to exchange ideas and to move the field of soil
science forward. The IUSS strives to be as dynamic as our evolving discipline,
but much depends on the involvement of its members. May I invite you to
participate in IUSS activities, promote soil science and show that the
apocalypse of soil science is sheer nonsense!
Alfred
Hartemink
Deputy Secretary
General IUSS
Wageningen,
October 2007