Soil Organic Carbon: Past, Present, and Future Research

Maintaining soil health is critical to meet agricultural production demands. Soil health is the capability of soil to function as a living system within an ecosystem, to support production, to maintain or enhance water and air quality, and to promote plant/animal health. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the backbone of soil health. Intensive agricultural management has led to a reduction of SOC globally. Scientific communities, along with the policy makers and different stakeholders, have been putting enormous efforts in improving and maintaining SOC stocks in the quest of achieving agricultural sustainability to meet the demand of ever-increasing population. Also, the potential of soil to sequester carbon as a climate change mitigation strategy, has led climate and soil scientists in performing ground-breaking research focusing on SOC. Thus, this book chapter focuses on the importance of SOC on soil health, strategies to improve it, the past and ongoing research on SOC, and the future direction of estimating SOC.