NIAES International Workshop
Soil Health 2024 Japan Workshop
「土壌の健康」についての国際ワークショップ
Date
January 30-31, 2024
Venue
Online(Zoom Webinar)
Organized by
Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, NARO (NIAES)
Supported by
Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition (JSSSPN)
International Union of Soil Science (IUSS)
Funded by
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Japan (MAFF)
Website
https://supportoffice.jp/soil-health-2024/en/
Registration
Free of charge. Further information is available in the Workshop website.
Rationale
Soil health may be defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains biological productivity, promotes air and water quality, and maintains plant, animal, and human health. This term may also be regarded as a tool to raise the general public's interest, improve their understanding of soil, and promote casual communication among various stakeholders by using the word "health" that is familiar to everyone to scientifically express the status of soil. Healthy soil is an essential foundation for achieving a sustainable food system. To feed the growing world population while minimizing the anthropogenic environmental load via soil, such as global warming, loss of biodiversity, and disruption of biogeochemical nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, we need to assess soil health using methods that are appropriate for the diverse conditions of soil, climate, crops, diet, culture, economy, etc., among different countries and regions.
In this workshop, we will invite nine experts to give lectures on their soil health studies conducted in different countries and regions. Based on this, we will share the current information and knowledge on soil health and exchange opinions in relation to its definitions, indicators, monitoring strategies, assessment methods, and how to utilize it in actual soil policy and agri-environmental policy. This Workshop will aim at:
− Learn the concept of soil health and its applications in different countries and regions
− Share the current information and knowledge, exchange opinions, and organize our understanding on soil health considering diverse conditions of soil, climate, crop, diet, culture, economy, etc., among different countries and regions
− Make a comparison sheet of soil health among countries/regions to find common ground as well as essential differences between them
This Workshop will contribute to the global activities of "International Decade of Soils 2015-2024" led by IUSS and celebrate the Centennial of IUSS. This Workshop will also contribute to the worldwide activities of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Program (get PDF file)
| 30 Tuesday, 1st day of the Workshop | ||
| 09:00-09:15 | ||
| Opening Session | ||
| Opening address | Dr. Shori Yamamoto (Director-General, NIAES, Japan) | |
| 09:15-12:00 | ||
| Morning Session:Soil health in America and Oceania | ||
| 1) | Measuring and assessing soil health at scale in across North America | 【Keynote】Dr. Cristine Morgan (Soil Health Institute, USA) |
| 2) | Factors of soil health, and how they impact interpretation and benchmarking | 【Invited】Dr. Harold van Es (Cornell Univ, USA) |
| 3) | Soil health in Aotearoa New Zealand: a personal journey | 【Invited】Dr. Matthew Taylor (Waikato Regional Council, New Zealand) |
| 4) | Grazing effects on soil health in Australia's extensive rangelands | 【Invited】Dr. David Eldridge (Univ of New South Wales Sydney, Australia) |
| General Discussion I (20 min) | ||
| 12:00-13:30 | ||
| Lunch Break | ||
| 13:30-14:40 | ||
| Afternoon Session:Soil health in Asia and Europe | ||
| 5) | Soil health assessment in Kanto, Japan: A long-term study of conservation agriculture trials | 【Invited】Dr. Masakazu Komatsuzaki (Ibaraki Univ, Japan) |
| 6) | Regenerating soil health in smallholder systems of South Asia: Challenges and strategies | 【Invited】Dr. Mangi Lal Jat (ICRISAT, India) |
| 14:40-15:00 | ||
| Coffee break | ||
| 15:00-17:10 | ||
| 7) | Assessing and monitoring soil health in Europe: opportunities and threats | 【Keynote】Dr. Edoardo Costantini (CNR-IBE, Italy) |
| 8) | Assessing soil health across Europe - changing the perspective on soil monitoring designs | 【Invited】Dr. Rachel Creamer (Wageningen Univ & Research, The Netherlands) |
| 9) | Farmer-feasible soil health assessment | 【Invited】Dr. Helen Hughes (Univ of Edinburgh, UK) |
| General Discussion II(20 min) | ||
| 31 Wednesday, 2nd day of the Workshop | ||
| 09:00-11:30 | ||
| Dialogue & Discussion Session | ||
| ● | Summary of the 1st day of the Workshop | |
| ● | Free Q&A with various stakeholders (researchers, policy makers, farmers, private companies, NPOs, etc) on anything about soil health | |
| ● | Short comments by foreign/Japanese experts | |
| 11:30-11:45 | ||
| Closing Session | ||
| Closing remarks | Mr. Keiji Hirose (Deputy Director, Sustainable Agriculture Division, Crop Production Bureau, MAFF) | |
Program and Abstracts file (PDF) available from here
Contact
Secretariat of the Soil Health 2024 Workshop
E-mail: soilhealth2024@ml.affrc.go.jp
Tel: +81-29-838-8326
