Is There a Fertile Future for the Discipline of Soil Fertility?.

The question posed in the title of this lecture is founded in two opposing observations. From 2004 through 2012, SSSA membership grew at a rate of 105 members per year. During this same period, S4+S8 (Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition; Nutrient Management & Soil & Plant Analysis) membership declined at a rate of 21 members per year. At this rate, S4 and S8 will disappear in 30 years – well within the professional careers of young scientists just entering the discipline. These statistics, combined with the trends of declining real support for applied agronomic research and Extension programs at most levels of government and in many regions, lead one to a rather bleak view of the future of the soil fertility discipline. 

But then many of the most perplexing issues of the day are deeply rooted in the processes and supporting disciplines that comprise the integrating field of soil fertility. One can easily argue that the most challenging of these issues is balancing the need for increased productivity with the need for reduced nutrient loss to the environment or even enhanced absorption of substances from the environment, like CO₂.  Reduction of N₂O losses from fertilized soils, interruption of the nitrogen (N) cascade, reduction of phosphorus (P) losses to water and excessive P levels in highly manured soils are all examples of issues imbedded within this huge challenge and that are squarely positioned within soil fertility science and practice. Recent concern about efficient use of limited global P resources has scientists from other disciplines striving to understand the role of soil P reserves in the global P cycle – again an issue within the scope of soil fertility. The role of soil fertility in human health and nutrition has become a topic of research and debate around the world. Several commonly used process models tend to employ a black box approach to dealing with soil fertility aspects that inadequately address the site-specific nature of nutrient transfers and the impacts of management. And, in this age of much dialogue about stewardship and a land ethic, the basic fertility of soil too often gets minimized in importance.

So, in an age when it seems that the discipline of soil fertility should be expanding, developing collaborative linkages with numerous other disciplines, and being funded by a myriad of stakeholder groups, the facts suggest that it is shrinking. Can or should this trend be reversed? This question will be the focus of the lecture.