Opinion

A concise evaluation of the problems and the practical options involving biosolids.  Conclusion: the cost advantage of making land application work is compelling.  Peak phosphorus, not mentioned in the article, means that land application on cropland will increasingly sort out as the highest and best use for biosolids.

Living organisms are an important requirement for soil formation. Soil formation on Mars anyone?

Gary Jones geeks on grass-fed beef, soil, and biochar at garyjones.org. He writes much worth repeating, and I especially appreciate his unwavering perspective on biochar: environment and food are nonessential sideshows, biochar is about the soil.

A ubiquitous issue with irrigation in arid areas is the inevitable build-up of salts in the soil. Applying water in excess of crop use is needed to move salts down into the profile, but that becomes impractical under drought conditions. 

The view of soil as a natural resource separates soil science from engineering.

Invest in yourself. Invest in your profession.

My career has seen the soil science profession shift from predominantly government employer to mixed private, government and university employers. Until recently, I thought I was witnessing the decline of the profession, but now I believe it is the effect of the diversification that has ultimately broadened the knowledge and application of soil scientists. Today, there are more laws and regulations that pertain to soils than ever before, and states continue to add licensing. So why is the number of soil science students continuing to decrease?

Prior to the Civil War, native soil fertility was so high it was a "problem" for early Illinois farmers.

How? Several ways, but especially important is that accumulated charcoal, a product of millenia of prairie fires, had stimulated nitrogen fixation. A ready supply of fixed nitrogen supported organic matter accumulation. Released by tillage, organic matter declined and nutrient availability spiked to levels not experienced since.

Fleshing out my previous statements made in support of the need to start gauging the neutralizing power of biochar.

Determining the neutralizing potential of fly ash is standard practice for permitted land application. It should be a standard practice for land application of biochar.

The bill establishes a loan guarantee program to develop biochar technology, initiates a program of biochar landscape restoration projects on public land, and authorizes a competitive grant program to fund research on biochar characteristics, impacts and economics. Please support it.

I do not have a complete grip on reality. Rather than an unhealthy mental state, it is just a fact of life when you are a scientist.

Although the term soft engineering is not currently used extensively, it is replacing "bioengineering" as the preferred term to describe the engineering use of living plants to prevent shoreline and stream bank scour and such. "Soft engineering" has gone international (UK, USA, Canada). It is an instantly recognizeable term, implicitly going beyond hard engineering to embrace the non-engineering aspects of plants and soil...

When Ohio pedologist Andy Kleinschmidt applied to join NSCSS yesterday, I hesitated to encourage him. Andy provides soil science consulting services for a fee, but as a Cooperative Extension Soil Scientist. That's a red flag for NSCSS.