Technological Advances in Soil Monitoring & Sustainable Management

Soil, this thin layer on the Earth’s surface composed of inorganic and organic substances, is the primary natural resource for the production of food, fibers, and bioenergy, while also playing a crucial role in ecosystems and global climate regulation. It consists of various solid (mineral, organic), liquid, and gaseous components, which interact with each other and the external environment. Beyond supporting production, soil also provides environmental services such as carbon storage, nutrient cycling, water infiltration and retention, and biodiversity shelter. Soils are naturally heterogeneous due to significant variations in factors like parent material (rocks), landscape (topography), climate, weathering (the natural process of rock breakdown and alteration), and biological activity. These differences are reflected in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil, which can vary due to the complex interactions of several factors, including biological (earthworms, microorganisms, ants), edaphic (texture, structure, organic matter, nutrients), anthropogenic (human activity), topographic (slope, lowlands, or elevations), and climatic (temperature, humidity, precipitation). Soil characteristics can vary spatially, even within the same field or paddock, extending to a regional scale. These variations may arise from soil formation factors or from management practices, fertilization, and crop rotation. The Irish physicist William Thomson stated that “what cannot...