Dear Madam/Sir
We are responding to an invitation for contributions, to the online consultation for the development of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management. As current Chairperson of Working Group F “Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation (VSEE)” of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation (ISTRO), together with Lars Munkholm (Aarhus University Denmark (ISTRO Assistant Secretary General), we believe that the activities conducted by this group would be of great relevance to be included in section 3.9 of the document proposed.
The ISTRO Group F (VSEE) is formed by an international group of soil scientists, with different backgrounds, from various continents, who work together on the development and application of Visual Soil Evaluation methods. The activities of the group follow on from early meetings in Peronne France (2005), initiated by Tom Batey, David McKenzie and Hubert Boizard at the 2003 Brisbane ISTRO conference and in Flakkebjerg Denmark (organised by Lars Munkholm and Bruce Ball), which led to publication of a Soil & Tillage Research Special Issue: Applications of Visual Soil Evaluation, published in 2013, and the development of a new methodology to evaluate the subsoil structural quality (SubVESS procedure, Ball et al, 2015).
Recently, as a result of the activities of this group, a book was published by CABI, which synthesised the state of art of Visual Soil Methods: Visual Soil Evaluation: Realizing Potential Crop Production with Minimum Environmental Impact, edited by Bruce Ball and Lars Munkholm. This book, which describes the main methods for Visual Soil Evaluation (VSE) of soil structure and soil-related properties, is extensively illustrated so as to give clear visual images of the variation of soil quality. In the book VSE is placed in the context of future sustainable intensification of agriculture including factors of soil loss, resilience, climate change, scarcity of water and other resources, nutrient retention and increased risk of degradation.
Currently we are editing a new special Issue for Soil and Tillage Research on the topic “Refinement and Potential of Visual Evaluation Methods and Soil Compaction Prevention Strategies”, which follows on from the VSEE group’s workshop, held in Maringá Brazil in 2014.
Most of the Visual Soil Evaluation methods covered by the group’s research and outputs are inexpensive, easily repeatable and can be used to access soil quality information in remote areas with limited infrastructure, as they do not require large or expensive equipment or laboratory analysis. The results from them can be obtained directly in the field, giving the user instant access to the result.
The group believes that the information regarding visual soil assessment contained in the Soil & Tillage Research special issues and the CABI book is highly relevant and that the inclusion of them in the text of the key documents and reference lists would be of benefit to the dissemination of the knowledge.
References
Ball, B.C. and Munkholm, L. R. (eds). Visual Soil Evaluation: Realising Potential Crop Production with Minimum Environmental Impact. CABI, Wallingford, UK, 2015. http://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9781780644707
Soil and Tillage Research, volume 127, Pages 1-100 (March 2013)
Special issue: Applications of Visual Soil Evaluation http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01671987/127
On behalf of the ISTRO Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation working group, I would like to reaffirm that we are available to provide further contributions towards the document. If you have any questions do not hesitate in contacting us.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Guimarães
Researcher/Lecturer in Soil Physics
Federal University of Technology - Paraná
Agronomy Department
Via do Conhecimento, km 1 Pato Branco – PR, Brazil
CEP: 85503-390
+55-46-3220-2542
[email protected]
Rachel Guimarães