Feeding the world with soil science: embracing sustainability, complexity and uncertainty

Abstract

Feeding a growing and wealthier population while providing other ecosystem services and meeting social and environmental goals poses serious challenges to soil scientists of the 21st Century. In particular, three dimensions inherent to agricultural systems shape the current paradigm under which science has to contribute knowledge and innovations: sustainability, complexity and uncertainty. The current model of agricultural production, which is also often the source of inspiration to propose solutions for future challenges, fails at internalizing these dimensions. It simply does not provide the necessary means to address sustainability, complexity or uncertainties. Part of the problem is that these are soft concepts, as opposed to hard goals, and so their definition and their translation into concrete actions is always subjective. They have to be sufficiently defined for soil science to embrace them in order to propose viable solutions to (i) produce food where it is most needed, (ii) decouple agricultural production from its dependence on non-renewable resources, (iii) recycle and make efficient use of available resources, (iv) reduce the risks associated with global change, and (v) restore the capacity of degraded soils to provide ecosystem services. This paper examines what the concepts of sustainability, complexity and uncertainty mean and imply for soil science, focusing on the five priorities enunciated above. It also summarizes and proposes new research challenges for soil scientists of the 21st Century.