Future Issues

Abstract

Soils constitute one of the greatest assets of Argentina. This resource, coupled with the climatic conditions, confers this country the capacity to produce food for more than ten times its current population. Although it is largely known among local scientists that soils constitute the country’s main natural resource, this fact remains largely unknown to the public and policy makers. Those who work in soils should be aware for spreading these concepts to the rest of the population. In Argentina, the agricultural practices leading to the sustainable use of soils are already known but not always applied. In most cases, this is due to a combination of economic factors, land tenure system, and the lack of legal support to regulate land use. At present, discussions on agricultural practices are focused on how to increase yields rather than on how to make the agricultural systems more sustainable. However, the concept of soil conservation must be urgently reinforced because the objective of increasing or even maintaining crop yields will not be possible in a context of continuous soil deterioration.