Teagasc Johnstown Castle hosts International Soil Conference: 'Soil Quality = Environmental Quality?'

“Can we look after the environment simply by looking after the soils?” Over one hundred scientists from across the globe will try and answer this question at an international conference on soil quality at the Teagasc Environment Research Centre, Johnstown Castle, County Wexford.

The three day conference, organised jointly by the British Soil Science Society and the Soil Science Society of Ireland, opened today, Wednesday, 9 September. This major international conference brings together some of the leading soil scientists in the world.

Rogier Schulte, Head of Environment Research, Teagasc said: “It is in soils where farming meets the environment. Not only do soils provide food and fibre, but soils also clean water for human consumption, have the potential to store carbon from the atmosphere and provide a habitat for below-ground biodiversity. With global demand for food, fibre and fuel rising sharply, a debate is emerging on how we can make the most of each of these soil functions. Can food production be increased and at the same time sequester more carbon?”

Professor Johan Six from the University of California Davis is presenting a key-note vision of how scientists are beginning to open the black box of life below the soil surface, and to develop tools for active soil-husbandry.

Worldwide, soil degradation is threatening the functioning of soils in many regions. In warmer climates, salinisation and desertification are well-known threats to soil functioning, but the EU Thematic Strategy on Soils now recognises threats to soil functioning in temperate agriculture, including compaction, erosion, landslides, loss of organic matter, contamination and sealing. The latest international research outcomes on how to manage soils in order to avert these threats is being presented at the conference.

In Ireland, over 400 different soil types have been identified so far, each with its own suite of soil functions. To date, soil functions have rarely featured in spatial planning; the conference will hear a key-note presentation from Henk van der Kamp, former president of the Irish Planning Institute, on how we can get more value out of our national soil resources if we take account of which soils can produce most food, which can sequester more carbon, and which have the best capacity to purify water.

The conference includes active field workshops, in which delegates will discuss first-hand how each of the soil functions can be assessed, managed, and augmented.