Identifying New Opportunities to Invigorate Soil Science.

Is soil science sustainable as an independent discipline? There is little question regarding the contemporary importance of soil science and the derived benefits from our unified treatment of physics, chemistry, and biology within a highly complex porous structure. But, there is a growing disparity between our value to society and the broader scientific community on the one hand and, on the other, the growing recognition that this message does not reach public nor even the very scientific community relying on our scholarly output. The eroded recognition and limited standing of soil science are evidenced by the limited number of soil science papers in the highest impact scientific journals, static or shrinking funding, and loss of students and soil science departments around the world. The question is: what should we do about these trends? To a large measure, we should follow Rien's lead: 1) reach out to other sciences; 2) claim and proclaim our successes; and 3) constantly search for areas of societal need that could benefit from contributions from soil science. Most difficult of all, we need to do much of this as selflessly as possible to raise the impact and profile of soil science in general, even if we see no personal direct benefit. There are several efforts in progress to advance soil science. The US National Committee on Soil Science is developing a focused document to reposition soil science with legislators and funding agencies with the goal of moving us "beyond agriculture". Similarly, we are planning a joint session with all of the S-divisions for the 2010 meeting to identify critical steps to advance soil science. Both of these efforts need your input. We will present a list of preliminary ideas and contact information and hope to generate interest in this important process.