When we think of World Food Day, celebrated on 16 October, we often focus on agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, and the food on our plates, but what about the soil that sustains them? Often overlooked, soil is the foundation of our food production. Understanding, replenishing, and protecting this vital resource is essential to ensuring healthy and sustainable food systems, today and for future generations.
This year's World Food Day highlights the importance of innovation, data and technology in shaping the future of food and agriculture. At ISRIC, we believe that quality soil data and information are fundamental to this effort.
Quality soil information - The foundation for better decisions
Healthy soils are essential for growing crops, supporting biodiversity and regulating water and nutrient cycles. Yet soils vary considerably across landscapes, and understanding their properties and conditions is key to managing soils sustainably.
Reliable soil data and information can help policymakers, service providers and farmers make informed decisions about land use, crop selection, fertiliser recommendations, and sustainable land and soil management. They can also help identify soil threats and guide measures to maintain or improve soil health.
Soil information systems (SIS) - Bringing soil information together through innovation
One way to improve the availability, consistency and usability of soil data is through the development of a soil information system (SIS).
Soil data are often collected by different organisations, researchers, and institutions, using different methods and standards. As a result, valuable information may be fragmented, difficult to access or incompatible with other datasets. In some cases, soil data can be lost forever.
Soil information systems address these challenges by bringing together soil data from different sources into one system where they can be collected, organised, standardised, harmonised, integrated and managed according to common standards. As a result, a SIS provides vital information and reduces duplicated efforts while preserving valuable soil data for future use.
This is becoming even more relevant with the rapid development of AI-based agricultural advisory services. AI can combine soil information with weather, climate, crop, remote-sensing and farm-management data to provide location-specific advice. However, the quality of these services depends on the quality of the underlying data. AI can process and extrapolate large amounts of data, but cannot compensate for major data gaps, poor-quality data or inconsistent observations. Quality-assured, georeferenced and well-documented soil information is therefore an important part of the data infrastructure needed for both current agricultural decision-making and the next generation of AI-based advisory services.
ISRIC's contribution to stronger soil information
ISRIC has over 60 years of experience in soil science. In close cooperation with our national and international partners, we develop and strengthen SISs at the national, regional and continental level. For each step in the soil information workflow, we provide tools, methods and training, eventually resulting in quality-assessed digital soil maps that support decision-making processes. In this process, we promote and apply FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles.
Our approach is to work closely with nationally mandated institutions in the Global South to support them with developing soil information systems for their territories. It is important that established soil information systems are sustained over time; therefore, we always combine technical strengthening to support the long-term maintenance of the SIS.
The African Soil Information Community of Practice is a platform where SIS developers come together for peer-to-peer learning, capacity development and cooperation.
From quality soil data to food security
As the world faces increasing pressures from climate change, soil degradation and growing demand for food, reliable soil information is becoming ever more important.
Innovative soil information systems offer an opportunity to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability through the availability, accessibility and application of quality, harmonised, up-to-date soil data.
This World Food Day, as we celebrate innovation in food and agriculture, let's not forget what lies beneath it all. Protecting the soils that sustain food systems starts with understanding them – and ensuring that the information we rely on is of the highest possible quality.