Beyond T: Guiding Sustainable Soil Management

Scientists, conservation advisors, and producers recognize the need for a more comprehensive and integrated approach to soil management that (1) considers the multiple production and ecological functions soil provides, (2) evaluates multiple factors of soil degradation, (3) provides standards or thresholds for managing soil to sustain its multiple production and ecological functions, and (4) results in more comprehensive recommendations for soil management and conservation.

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) undertook a project, funded by the Wallace Genetic Foundation, to help accelerate the development of more comprehensive soil assessment, management, and planning tools. Final documents from the project include (1) a report from an expert consultation that reviewed the strengths and weakness of the Soil Conditioning Index and the Soil Management Assessment Framework and made recommendations for action to develop tools to support a more comprehensive and integrated approach to soil management and (2) a review and synthesis of the scientific literature regarding definitions of soil quality, soil functions, soil attributes and indicators, attempts to set threshold levels for indicators, and attempts to construct frameworks for more comprehensive soil management. Links to both documents are provided below:

Report of Expert Consultation

Literature Review and Synthesis

Expert Consultation Presentations:

The expert consultation convened by SWCS opened with presentations on the development and characteristics of the Soil Conditioning Index and the Soil Management Assessment Framework. Links to those presentations are provided below.

Lee Norfleet, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service—Soil Conditioning Index
Doug Karlen, USDA Agricultural Research Service—Soil Management Assessment Framework
Susan Andrews, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service—Soil Quality Tool; Additional Applications

Expert Consultation Participants
Carolyn Adams, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Susan Andrews, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Craig Cox, Soil and Water Conservation Society
Doug Karlen, USDA Agricultural Research Service
Sue Ann Lynes, Soil and Water Conservation Society
Lee Norfleet, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Michelle Wander, University of Illinois
Brian Wienhold, USDA Agricultural Research Service
Ted Zobeck, USDA Agricultural Research Service

Reviewers: Dave Lightle and Norm Widman, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; John Kruse, Georgia Pacific Corporation