5. Soil Management

“When our soils are gone, we too, must go unless we find some way to feed on raw rock”
Thomas C. Chamberlain

1/3 of soils are already degraded and this is increasing every year. Clearly we need to reverse current degradation and prevent future degradation via good soil management (SM) techniques. In my last post, I discussed soil degradation as a function of its ecosystem service provision (ESP) in relation to some 'natural baseline level'. With these concepts in mind, I have formed three main types of SM:

1. SM that maintains ESP, at baseline level.

2. SM that restores ESP, back to its baseline level.

3. SM that sustainably enhances ESP, past its baseline level.

Fig. 1 Conceptual diagram that I made to try to represent the three soil management types in relation to this ‘baseline level’ of Ecosystem Service Provision (ESP)

  

Our modern management goals: restore and enhance
Our demand for most of the soil's ecosystem services is increasing. Therefore, we need to restore and enhance ESP not just maintain it (N.B. this enhancement must be sustainable!). In the context of food provision this would allow us to both expand and intensify agriculture. In the context of carbon sequestration this would allow us to mitigate climate change. 

My next few posts will investigate soil management in terms of food production.