June 2026

Soil Publications

A new edited collection of scholarly and creative works on soil relations and remediation is now available for preorder. PUBLIC 73: (Re)mediating Soils brings together scholars and artists from diverse disciplines and geographical contexts to explore the global soil crisis as a crisis of relation rather than a purely biotechnical environmental problem. Through essays, artworks, and reflections, the collection examines existing human–soil relations and imagines new possibilities for relational soil care.

Why do land managers hesitate to engage in ecological restoration, even when financial compensation is offered? This paper about Danish wetland restoration argues that land managers’ choices are shaped not only by economic factors, but also moral, cultural, and practical considerations around land use.

Looking at soil degradation in Nepal, this article shows that even when farmers know what they should do to restore soils, they often cannot act based on that knowledge due to challenging ecological and socio-economic conditions. The authors emphasise that soil degradation must not be reduced to a technical issue in policymaking and advisory services.

This paper studied how land planners understand uncertainty in soil quality maps and how this representation influences decision-making towards sealing or conservation.

An ethnographic study explore how French urban gardeners understand soil health and soil quality concepts. Soil care practices revealed that they are mainly concerned with soil nutrition and have an ambivalent relation to soil pollution.

Investigating the evolution of soil profiling, soil scientists regret in this commentary, that soil profile has almost become a “lost language” within the discipline and argue that it remains an indispensable windows into the soil system.

An online survey of Californian gardeners shows that knowledge of arthropods ecological roles is influenced by experience, education and gender.

A global data commons is needed to protect and govern Earth’s soil. In a recent opinion piece soil scientists outlines the pillars of a global soil data commons to consolidate and mobilize soil knowledge at the global scale, building on existing initiatives and recent technological advances within a participatory and transparent governance framework.