Reservations regarding the soil quality concept

We consider the appropriateness of institutionalizing soil quality as a def ined parameter in soil science. The soil management research of land grant universities and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the mission an d goals of state, federal, and private conservation agencies stand to be si gnificantly affected. We feel that a non-advocative examination of this con cept could provide a positive contribution. The definition of soil quality has proven elusive and value laden. There is concern by some that the conce pt has developed arbitrary policy overtones. Our reservations stem from con cerns regarding premature acceptance and institutionalization of an incompl etely formulated and largely untested paradigm, potential unintended negati ve outcomes, promotion of a narrowly defined environmental policy in a cont ext normally associated with value-neutral science, and taxonomic and/or re gional bias in establishing the paradigm, To date, soil quality assessments have drawn from a relatively narrow crop production and ecological perspec tive to positively or negatively weight soil quality assessment factors, Al though the soil quality paradigm acknowledges multi-defined soil functions, it has yet to operationally recognize and integrate the simultaneity of di verse and often conflicting functions and soil property requirements. Thus, we are attempting to articulate the concerns of many of our colleagues who are reluctant to endorse redefining :the soil science paradigm away from t he value-neutral tradition of edaphology and specific problem solving to a paradigm based on variable, and often subjective societal perceptions of en vironmental holism, Traditionally, it has been the soil science profession' s role to perform the science to enable resource management policy and prob lem solving, not to establish relational-based value systems within the sci ence. We suggest emphasizing quality soil management rather than soil quali ty management as a professional and scientific goal.