Soil science

Soil is the natural resource for any crop production, for human food and animal feed in particular. Soils need a rather long time before they are satisfyingly fertile and are in no way reproducible in unlimited quantity.

Given that the world population is continuously growing, people find themselves in an ongoing situation that constantly engenders conflicts caused by soil use. On the one hand, existing agricultural acreage has to realize ever higher yields. On the other hand, towns and transport infrastructure are growing, which results in the irrevocable loss of soil and, consequently, puts the presently cultivated areas under higher production pressure.

Soil science explores the conditions that control soil fertility and deals with soil classification. Research is currently concentrated on the understanding of pedological processes as well as on the preservation and restoration of natural soil functions. Here, soil scientists closely cooperate with partners from the related disciplines of crop production and plant nutrition.
At the Julius Kühn Institute, the subject of soil sciences is mainly investigated by the

• Institute of Crop and Soil Science