ABSTRACT
Thousands of years ago, before the development of agriculture, soil was considered merely a physical support for crops. With the development of modern agriculture, a wider role for soil has emerged. A greater interest in soil has been associated with the discovery of the role nutrients and water play in plant growth and development, and subsequently their intensive use as part of the development of intensive agriculture in the middle of the 20th century, required to meet exponential population growth. This transformation, later called ‘the Green Revolution’ in agriculture after the Second World War, was based on extensive use of ploughing of soil, mineral fertilizers and irrigation, combined with new high-yielding cultivars. Concerns to reduce a perceived over-reliance on fertilizers lead to a new interest in soil health.
