Poppycock; soil science, to the extent that it still is an independent department anywhere, is nearly always linked to a school of agriculture. The argument that "soil science as a discipline was rather narrowly defined in the 1980s as mostly including soil pedology and soil physics" fails to understand soil science. The SSSA was established in 1936 with six sections: physics, chemistry, microbiology, fertility, morphology, and technology. Soil science evolved to be adopted as a focus of research by other that traditional soils scientists, often building on concepts developed in agriculture. The link did never disappear, but soil science became the basis of more than just agricultural work. What is correct is that the pure soil science departments morphed and were re-labelled, as agricultural research fell out of fashion for a while. It is also correct that soil science is insufficiently recognized as a self-standing science by many nations' funding societies (merged into earth sciences or geography). So no, the argument of the authors is severely flawed. As to the 1900 to be the date when soils science became a science, debatable, depending of how we classify the work of Liebig, Dokuchaev and many others.

The connection of soil science to agriculture has never been lost. I wasn't in the field in 1980 but I doubt it was lost then and it certainly wasn't lost in the year 2000 onward. Departments of soil science developed other focus areas like on-site wastewater disposal, wetland soils, contaminant transport, ect but the agricultural connection never went away.

There is an absolute relationship between soil science and agriculture. Soil science is the starting point for applied natural sciences: agriculture or forestry. Especially environmental issues, as Philippe Baveye wrote, often leading to soil degradation, increase the demand for soil science related to agricultural practices.

There is a strong link between agriculture and soil science, The soil science is a interdisciplinary subject which is essential for agriculture. Without soils no agriculture is possible . For crop production soils are essential part it can not be excluded.

Old enough too ...

The move was much complex. I agree that centrifugal forces have taken hold of the soil and divided it into sub-disciplines. Some of them (hydrodynamics, for example) have even intruded by themselves into the field of soil science, pushing back the scope of legitimacy of soil scientists.

This fed the debate between wordings (soil sciences versus soil science or pedology).

However, a large part of the former "soil science" was developed based on the observation of natural systems rather than agriculture. Moreover, the focus was first on static properties. The introduction of soil quality concepts led to focus on dynamic properties, and here come the 80s in an attempt to tackle the complexity in a reductionnist approach.

From my point of view, the challenge is to build systemic research allowing to connect the knowledges, which goes with hierarchising them and start the question from the user point of view, rather than from each separate field state-of-the-art.

In reference to the point made by Adrian, does anyone know of a soil science department that exists outside of a school of agriculture (in universities) or outside a research institution devoted to agriculture? At the individual level, I am aware of just a few soil scientists in France who are housed in earth science departments, but are there more in other countries? What proportion of all soil scientists would that represent?

I think that there are soil scientists at the university of Lausanne, and also of Neuchatel, Switzerland, with no agriculture department

Indeed, Lucie! I should have written "I am aware of just a few soil scientists in France and Switzerland who are housed in earth science departments". One could also perhaps mention the Department of Soil System Science at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Halle (Germany) as an example of a department that is outside an "agricultural" institution, but clearly some of their research projects are related to agriculture.

Like Mr. Baveye and Mr. Boivin, as a young soil scientist, I lived through the time when pedology, which was a naturalistic science supported by great scientists, gradually became the "soil science" whose analysis technology was fixed in standards imposed to be put at the exclusive service of agronomy. So yes, pedology, as a discipline of earth sciences, has disappeared from the attention of agronomists. On the other hand, "soil science", more technological, has remained closely linked to agronomy but has gradually become a technical laboratory at the service of agronomy. It can no longer be called a scientific discipline as Pedology was.

Thus, I completely agree with P. Boivin when he says: "The challenge is to build systemic research allowing to connect the knowledge, which goes with hierarchizing them”.

This is exactly the challenge that I have been pursuing for twenty years and that has just come to fruition with these two articles in 2021 and 2022:

Braudeau, E.; Mohtar, R.H. Hydrostructural Pedology, Culmination of the Systemic Approach of the Natural Environment. Systems 2021, 9, 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/sys[1]tems9010008

Erik, Braudeau, (2022). Systemic Modeling of the Free Energy of Soil Water; Adequacy with the Carnot Cycle and Clausius Inequality. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(4). 508-527.

These articles follow the e-book published in 2016 presenting the new scientific discipline: "Hydrostructural Pedology" as a theory in fundamental sciences. It gives the scientific and philosophical definition of this brand new discipline of earth and environmental sciences and thus presents the central place it occupies alone in connection with all the other disciplines of agri-environmental sciences. This is how Hydrostructural Pedology can be qualified as trans-disciplinary, using the same water physics (systemic soil water thermodynamics) in all disciplines of the global natural system and its subsystems.

The e-book shows, in particular, what is this new paradigm of " Systemic Physics of Soil Water" that must be used to model, thermodynamically and systemically, the dynamics and retention of water in a soil profile (hierarchically structured in aggregates : primary aggregates, pedostructure, soil horizons, representative pedon, soil mapping unit, geomorphological unit).

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I am an agronomist engineer specialized in soils. I think that much of the approach varies with each country. In the case of Mexico, invariably the connection between soil and agricultural activity is intrinsic, indivisible. Although in recent years other areas such as the environment have gained strength. I also believe that in many cases more than pedology or pedology, agricultural chemistry has become more important, some would say soil fertility.

The claim that the link between soil science and agriculture was lost around 1980 is questionable. While the evolution of soil science as an academic discipline may have led to diversification and exploration of new areas, the fundamental connection between soil science and agriculture remains strong. Agriculture relies on understanding soil properties, nutrient management, and soil health for sustainable crop production. The focus on environmental issues does not negate the intrinsic tie to agricultural practices. In fact, addressing challenges like climate change and soil contamination necessitates an agricultural perspective to actively manage soils. It is important to recognize that while soil science may have expanded its scope, its roots in agriculture have persisted throughout the years.

I'm not old enough, though,

But I think it is important to note that scientific disciplines evolve over time, and different researchers may have varying perceptions and interpretations of the historical trajectory of a field. Hence, it is crucial to recognize that the findings of a single study should not be regarded as an immutable and definitive truth.

Historically, soil science has strong connections to agriculture due to the practical applications of understanding soil fertility, nutrient management, and sustainable land use practices, mainly for food and feed production. However, later soil science has expanded beyond its initial focus on agriculture. Over the years, the discipline has evolved to address broader environmental concerns, including soil conservation, land degradation, soil pollution, and the impact of soil on climate change. I personally believe this expansion does not necessarily imply a complete disconnection from agriculture but rather a broadening of the scope to encompass various aspects related to soil and its interactions with the environment.

The perception of a "lost link" between soil science and agriculture may arise from the increasing emphasis on non-agricultural aspects of soil science, such as environmental issues and the broader understanding of soil as a natural resource. However, it does not mean that the agricultural aspect of soil science has been completely abandoned or disregarded.

Thanks to a discussion in our lab regarding this article of Sigl and al (2023), we can add some elements. In France, it seems like soil science was not completely linked to agriculture before the 1980s because pedology and soil genesis were studied in a natural, non-anthropized system. In Switzerland, the link between agriculture and soil did exist via Agroscope among others before the 1980s (Neyroud, 1991, https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-1987(91)90013-N) and still does today.

Operationnality is nowadays one of the priorities of soil science and is often driven by fund calls but a systemic approach is still needed. Moreover, as it is underlined by Pascal Boivin, the physics or the biology of a system has not to be confused with of a systemic approach. To illustrate this phenomenon, we recommend the work of the ethnobiologist Nicolas Derungs (2018). He noted that soil losses remain high, despite the introduction of two national research programs (NRP 22 and NRP 68) and policies to slow down land degradation. He identified two main reasons for this: « first, the soil remains a poorly publicized natural environment garnering little public support; second, soil degradation has been studied for decades, but purely technical solutions have been proposed. Derungs called for broader public and political debate and the mobilization of new spokespersons like farmers, amateur gardeners, artists, philosophers, or sociologists to protect soil. »

Five years ago, participative research developed (on-farm research) and then even better and more systemic : Living Labs. This was born with the observations that 1) innovations come from farmers, 2) systemic approach is necessary as Edgar Morin has suggested in the 1980s. Soil scientists can thus dedicate their research to the operation of such Living Labs. Let’s go !