Cultivating Sustainable Soils

The conventional wisdom in agriculture is that soil must be cultivated to bring about such benefits as control weeds, incorporate organic matter, prepare the seedbed, conserve soil moisture, and allow better root development. Despite these potential benefits, too much of a good thing can also cause problems, such as loss of good soil structure, acceleration of the breakdown of soil organic matter, increased erosion, and loss of some of the elements that maintain the productive capacity of the soil ecosystem. For this reason, paying attention to how the soil is managed and what the impacts are, both in the short as well as the long term, are important parts of sustainable agriculture. As with any agroecological factor, understanding how intensity, frequency, and timing of our actions impact long-term sustainability is essential. Many patterns of soil tillage exist, from very intensive to reduced to zero tillage. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Balancing both sides is necessary. The articles in this issue address soil management in many different ways. Cultivation intensity and its impacts on soil characteristics are examined in some cases, mulch management in another, and depth of sowing of seed in cultivated soil in yet another. A unique aspect of this collection of articles, though, is the way that soil management is considered as a component of food system sustainability at a scale beyond an individual farm. Be it impacts on nutrient cycles in coffee agroforests or linking soil management to agricultural diversification under a range of socioeconomic settings in Cuba, the soil is the foundation for sustainability.