A European stakeholder survey on soil science skills for sustainable agriculture

Abstract

The EU soil strategy for 2030 has set the objective of achieving ‘healthy soils’ in Europe by 2050. To achieve this ambitious goal, dedicated soil science skills will be needed in the future. This article presents the results of a survey on soil science skills for the future conducted within the framework of the EJP SOIL. The survey was distributed online in the 24 countries participating to the EJP SOIL. The skills were expressed as having knowledge in particular topics related to soils, practical know‐hows or abilities, or outcomes of knowledge and know‐hows put into action. No significant differences in the importance of soil‐science related skills were found between countries or stakeholder categories. The two groups of skills that ranked at the top of stakeholders' concern were ‘Having a scientific basis of knowledge on soils and their functioning’ and ‘Knowing how to mobilise agronomic drivers to manage and protect soils’. This means that there is a need for people with an in‐depth knowledge in soil science, but also soil scientists with integrated knowledge in agronomy and crop production. Three important findings relate to the knowledge of soil science itself: i) there is a clear need to develop the knowledge of soil biological and ecological functioning; ii) this should not happen at the expense of a strong general knowledge of the fundamentals of soil science; iii) future soil scientists should be trained to have a more holistic appreciation of soil rather than be trained as a specialist of a specific aspect of soil science only. Being able to exchange knowledge with farmers, knowing how to assess soil fertility, quality, or health, and how to improve them are viewed as essential skills for the future. These findings offer a clear path for the evolution of soil science education curricula across Europe.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Identification of soil‐related professional profiles for the future from a survey of European stakeholders

“…A foresight study of soil-science professional requirements was conducted using an online survey addressed to a closed panel of stakeholders (Veenstra et al, 2024). Stakeholders were recruited based on existing stakeholder panels established by the national hubs of the EJP Soil Programme which gathered together 26 partners from 24 European countries (ejpsoil.eu).…”

“…Part 4 of the questionnaire served as the basis of the present study. See Veenstra et al (2024) for more information about the questionnaire.…”

“…The vast majority of the profiles proposed most frequently were traditional soil-science profiles that focused on agricultural soil management or environmental protection (e.g., agricultural advisers, agronomists, environmental engineers, agro-pedologists), which shows that professionals in these fields are still greatly needed. Nevertheless, when analysing the scores given to skills in the survey, Veenstra et al (2024) found that skills related to soil biology and functional ecology were considered particularly important. This was reflected by the proposal of many profiles for (micro)biologists or soil ecologists, mainly at the master or doctoral level.…”

“…As part of the Horizon 2020 European Joint Programme on agricultural soil management (EJP Soil), Veenstra et al (2024) surveyed 669 stakeholders in 24 European countries to identify the soil-related skills they felt would be most useful to develop over the next 20 years. Their results highlight the importance of having basic scientific knowledge of soils and their functioning, especially soil biological and ecological functioning, but also of being able to implement agronomic drivers to manage and protect soils.…”

“…The aim of the present study was to identify professional profiles associated with the management, conservation and restoration of agricultural soils on the basis of a European survey of stakeholders, and to relate these profiles to specific and general skills. This article builds on the article of Veenstra et al (2024) but differs in that it does not focus on individual skills, focusing instead on identifying groups of skills that appear to be important for the professional profiles proposed by stakeholders.…”