The Soil Management Support Services (SMSS) was a program sponsored by the US Agency for Development (USAID) and implemented by the USDA Soil Conservation Service. It supplemented a Benchmark Soils project with five universities which USAID supported to improve the transfer of agricultural technology to small farmers in developing countries, primarily in the tropics. It was believed that appropriate soil management technology for specific soil families in Soil Taxonomy developed at one location could be transferred to other tropical locations having the same or similar soils. The knowledge gap was consistent soil data and information throughout the tropics. Thus an intensive 10-year program building a large soil data base, proposing and testing changes in Soil Taxonomy, and working with in-country soil scientists began in late 1979 and was formalized in the Soil Survey Division of the Soil Conservation Service in 1980 and later became known as the Soil Management Support Services under the leadership of Hari Eswaran.

SMSS started with soil classification workshops to gain experience and knowledge with Oxisols and Ultisols, then included Vertisols, Andisols, and wet soils in the tropics. A separate effort to build a database was the World Benchmark Soils Project (WBSP) which eventually accumulated data for more than 1000 pedons from 40+ countries. A spin off was laboratory strengthening and interlab correlations done in collaboration with ISRIC, the International Soil Museum facility. The study of soils was facilitated by International Committees (ICOMs) headed by international experts. Over the years there had been tweleve ICOMs dealing with separate soil orders, wetness criteria, soil climate parameters, soil family criteria, and even anthropogenic influences. SMSS supported newsletters, scientific exchanges, and classification and correlation workshops thereby enabling many scientists to be involved. Eventually about 50 countries used Soil Taxonomy, either directly or as a model to refine national classification schemes. The WBSP contains common interpretations for the sampled pedons and serves as a model for improving local information about soil management technology. This data is now available on-line from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service) for use by competent scientists everywhere.

As more experience was gained the workshops evolved into soil management ones illustrating how soil data was being interpreted and used in providing advice on numerous management options. Workshops in colder regions, in wet areas, and for varied and integrated ecosystems throughout many parts of the world contributed to an expanding network of scientists and interested practicioners. As sustainability concepts and concerns became more urgent, the lessons learned through the multi-faceted SMSS have been extended, in part, by the World Reference Base workshops as IUSS activities being held in additional countries. Important SMSS contributions to the training of trainers have been: standardized sampling and characterization of important soils for agriculture and forestry, uniform databases and interpretations, improved criteria and definitions used in soil classification, field guides, books, brochures, slide sets, CDs, and published papers. But perhaps the enhanced global network of soil science specialists is the legacy of greatest value.