Field, D.

Hartemink, A.E.

Koppi, T.

McBratney, A.

English

Name not available

The need for soil science amateurs

Wageningen Yield 

© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
30
The need for soil science amateurs 
 
Tony KoppiA ,Damien FieldB , Alex McBratneyC  and Alfred HarteminkD 
 
AFaculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, Email tkoppi@gmail.com 
BFaculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, Email d.field@usyd.edu.au 
CFaculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, Email 
A.McBratney@usyd.edu.au 
D ISRIC - World Soil Information PO Box 353 6700 AJ Wageningen The Netherlands, Email Alfred.Hartemink@wur.nl 
 
 
Abstract 
Attracting more people to soil science is a concern shared by many practicing soil scientists and education 
institutions. Many disciplines have amateur societies whose members engage with the discipline out of sheer 
passion and personal interest. These amateur enthusiasts are members of the general community that have 
perceived something of value and interest in the discipline to which they may contribute knowledge and 
advancement of the discipline in its own right. Some examples of amateur societies are: botany, paleology 
and astronomy. Soil science has no recognised amateur society. The professional training may mostly focus 
on knowledge at the expense of development or fostering amateur qualities to which members of the public 
could relate. Soil science and the general community have much to gain by fostering amateur qualities and 
the creation of a Society of Amateur Soil Scientists. 
 
Key Words 
Amateur qualities, soil education, amateur societies. 
 
Introduction 
This paper is concerned with public awareness of soil science, the role and qualifications of soil science 
professionals, the changing role of soil scientists, soil science education, and the possible contribution of soil 
science amateurs in creating greater public interest and growth of the discipline.  People who have not been 
formally educated in a discipline yet have a strong interest and passion for it, and engage with it in a practical 
way, are called amateurs. There are many amateur scientists, and Mims (1999) notes: “The term amateur can 
have a pejorative ring. But in science it retains the meaning of its French root amour, love, for amateurs do 
science because it's what they love to do. Without remuneration or reward, enthusiastic amateurs survey 
birds, tag butterflies, measure sunlight, and study transient solar eclipse phenomena. Others count sunspots, 
discover comets, monitor variable stars, and invent instruments.” Mims (1999) reports that these amateurs 
invest huge amounts of time in their scientific endeavours and data collection which they provide for 
scientific organisations and publish in prestigious journals. Perhaps the most famous amateur scientist was 
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) who held more than 1,000 US patents in his name (Wikipedia 2009a) and who 
began the journal Science in 1880 (Mims 1999). The Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS 2009) has a 
weekly publication (The Citizen Scientist), youth education, and community programs. The SAS was 
founded in 1994 by Shawn Carlson, a physicist from the University of California (Wikipedia 2009b). 
Amateur astronomers are probably the best-known group of amateur scientists that engage in research and 
invention of instruments (e.g., clocks, telescopes) and have made many significant scientific discoveries such 
as comets (e.g., Hale-Bopp in 1995), variable stars, and supernovae (Wikipedia 2009c), and they have an 
amateur astronomy magazine for the community (AAM 2009).  
 
The perception or image of soil science, as portrayed by soil scientists, needs to be examined. As practicing 
soil scientists we need to ask ourselves what impressions are we giving the general community and what are 
the reasons for lack of interest amongst people who have not been educated in soil science? The systematic 
study of soils started more or less in the first half of the nineteenth century. Important contributions were 
made by the German F.A. Fallou (1794-1877) who had studied jurisprudence at the University of Leipzig 
(Germany) and was interested in mineralogy. Fallou was never married and his love of nature turned his 
attention to soils - he studied soils as a hobby. He worked as a land tax assessor (Asio 2005) and published 
Pedologie oder allgemeine und besondere Bodenkunde (Fallou 1862). Just like Senft (Senft 1857) he 
attempted to treat the study of soils as an independent science, and soil as a separate formation – ideas that 
are mostly attributed to V.V. Dokuchaev. Fallou distinguished between soils formed in-situ and “washed-in” 
or alluvial soils. He discussed the effect of relief on soil depth, and introduced new terms like pedology and 
soil quality (both mean different things to different people). 
© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
31
We are not aware of soil science amateurs and hobbyism throughout much of the twentieth century but in 
1988 the famous soil scientist, Francis D. Hole commented: “ The 1980s would be a logical decade in which 
to organise a Society of Amateur Soil Observers.” There does not appear to have been any substantial 
follow-up to his suggestion, begging the question, where are the amateur soil scientists and what are we 
doing that prevents there being an amateur soil science society? In contrast, in a closely related discipline, 
there are apparently many amateur geologists (“rockhounds”) for whom there is a ready source of 
information and equipment (e.g., Amateur Geologist, 2009) including books and guides specifically for the 
amateur geologist, e.g., Cvancara (1995). It seems that general community interest in soil is limited to its 
utility (farmers, gardeners) rather than being appreciated for its own sake in a broader and deeper context as 
proposed by Hole. 
 
Qualities of amateurs and professionals 
Perry (1904) was concerned with identifying the amateur spirit in comparison to that of professionals and his 
distinctions are summarised in Table 1.  Perry did not produce such a table of opposites; this pairing is an 
interpretation of his writing by the authors of this paper.  
 
Table 1.  Summary of amateur and professional qualities as described by Perry (1904).  
Amateur Professional 
Broad approach to life One-sided narrow view 
Breadth of interest Specialised training, skilful, expert 
Imaginative and idealistic Lack of imagination 
Works for the sheer love of working Works for personal gain 
No self interest Self-sacrificing for the profession 
Chivalrous, winning is not the aim Strong desire to win 
Generous spirit Lack of sympathy 
Individual initiative Clannish narrow loyalty to the group 
Versatile, spontaneous and adventurous Machine-like 
Human curiosity and eagerness Dominated by exact methods and approved knowledge 
Personal enthusiasm and boundless zest Uninteresting 
 
While it is most unlikely that we would agree with the full distinctions Perry perceived, we can recognise 
qualities of the professional that apply to ourselves, as indeed we would claim to have some of the amateur 
qualities too. Perry himself noted (p 31): “Many of us are fortunate enough to recognise in some friend this 
combination of qualities, this union of strict professional training with the free outlook upon life, that human 
curiosity and eagerness, which are the best endowment of the amateur.” A balance of these qualities is 
clearly desirable in the soil science professional today. 
 
Preparation of balanced professional soil scientists 
If we agree that a balance of the amateur and professional qualities given in Table 1 is desirable, we may find 
it surprising that the performance objectives of the Soil Science Society of America’s Council of Soil 
Science Examiners (SSSA 2007) are almost entirely concerned with technical skills and knowledge (24 
pages) and 5 lines concerned with ethics in relation to a client. This approach is selecting for and 
encouraging the development of the one-sided, cold and hard qualities of the professional as perceived by 
Perry over 100 years ago. This would not endear the profession to the public at large and encourage more 
engagement with soil science.  
 
Universities generally have a broader approach to the development of a balanced professional and these 
days; Perry’s list of amateur and professional qualities would be described in terms of discipline knowledge 
and generic skills or attributes. The discipline knowledge would include specialised training in methods and 
thinking like a soil scientist. The generic attributes include other qualities of graduates that are claimed by 
most universities, such as research and inquiry, information literacy, personal and intellectual autonomy, 
ethical, social and professional understanding, and communication (The University of Sydney, 2004). One 
would expect graduates in soil science to have an appropriate balance of discipline knowledge and generic 
attributes, analogous to a mixture of the amateur and professional qualities given by Perry, for their 
professional life that would include interactions with employers and the general community.  
 
Employers require a range of skills from their graduate recruits. Singh et al. (2004) surveyed employers (51 
firms) for a wide range of skills (40 in total), knowledge and attributes desired of recent agriculture 
© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
32
graduates. They found that the top six requirements were: self motivation; the ability to write clear reports; 
having strong presentation skills and use of graphics; the ability to speak clearly and concisely; the ability to 
express technical concepts clearly and in a non-technical manner; and teamwork abilities. These results 
showed that employers placed less emphasis on discipline knowledge and more on the personal attributes 
that approximate more closely to the amateur qualities of Perry than the professional ones. Thus skills 
required by professionals are people skills with the ability to interact with colleagues, clients and the 
community. Members of the community are unlikely to be impressed with representatives of the profession, 
or indeed the profession, without those people skills. Advocating soil science to the community and 
attracting more interest requires qualities of the amateur more than these of the professional.   
 
A role for the amateur soil scientist? 
The role of the soil scientist in response to society’s needs has changed over the years. As mentioned over 
150 years ago there were non-professionals (amateurs in that sense) concerned with the rational use and 
management of the soil (Table 2, column 1). Gradually the discipline of soil science formed and was 
concerned with discovering the nature of soil, the development of methods of analysis, and soil behaviour 
whilst being associated with production and use of soil (Table 2, column 2). More recently, there has been 
recognition that soil science has a much broader holistic role to play in society’s needs and that soil scientists 
need to be more involved with other discipline scientists, stakeholders, policy makers and other users of soil 
information (Warkentin 1994; Bouma, 2001; Wessolek 2006), as shown in Table 2, column 3. Soil science is 
now recognised as an important part of ecological processes and has an essential scientific and economic part 
in contributing to the solution of the world’s problems, including those of food, fuel, water scarcity and 
climate change (Hartemink and McBratney 2008). It seems that other disciplines are also more interested in 
soil science, including the social sciences and liberal arts which are contributing to the broader holistic nature 
if soil science knowledge (Warkentin 1999).  Wessolek (2006) and Hartemink (2009) suggest that the public 
awareness and image of soil may be changed through aesthetics and art. 
 
This development from left to right in Table 2 may lead to the next step (column 4) where amateurs co-exist 
with today’s professionals and become involved with soil science. This amateur engagement with the 
discipline would parallel that of other scientific amateurs (astronomy, geology) who study and practice in the 
discipline out of sheer love and interest and develop expertise without necessarily having an academic 
qualification. Is that the definition of a community of practice, do we need that in soil science? Perhaps the 
only component missing at this point in time is that of the network (society) which is the mechanism through 
which amateurs in various disciplines engage. 
 
Table 2.  The progression of soil science from left to right and the possible co-existence of soil science amateurs   
Amateurs (non-professionals) Early professionals  Recent professionals  Amateurs 
The study of soil for 
utilitarian and survival 
purposes (over 150 years ago) 
The study of soil in its 
own right; development 
of methods and 
analytical procedures; 
linked to agricultural 
production 
Linking soil science with 
other disciplines and 
engaging with other 
scientists, politicians and 
stakeholders to provide 
information and solutions 
to complex environmental 
issues and problems 
Members of the public 
who engage with soil 
science out of personal 
interest and enthusiasm for 
the discipline and its 
practices.  
 
Perhaps these soil amateurs already exist and practice within organisations such as landcare groups which are 
made up of people with diverse backgrounds and expertise who are interested in contributing to the solution 
of local problems (Landcare 2007). As such members of landcare groups may be amateurs in the true sense 
of the word, as well as professionals in some discipline, and would straddle the boundary between columns 3 
and 4 of Table 2. 
 
Conclusions 
Unlike astronomy, geology, and other sciences, soil science has no amateur society. The appreciation and 
study of a discipline for its own sake, as practiced by amateurs in the general community, is apparently 
lacking for soil science. Amateurs have many qualities that enrich a discipline by their presence and 
activities as well as making possibly substantial contributions to the knowledge of that discipline as has 
occurred in science and astronomy for example.  
 
© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
33
Soil scientists are changing in response to society’s recognition of the essential role of soil science in the 
well-being of the planet, and are interacting with other disciplines and many stakeholders. The one-sided 
development of soil science professionals that lack people skills and the ability to interact with and enthuse 
the general pubic about the discipline would work against this trend as well as detract from encouraging 
amateur interest. An important change that we can make to improve the public perception of soil science, 
thereby possibly attracting more students, is to change soil science teaching and/or academia engaging with 
the general public through student community projects. In short – getting out there and demonstrating how 
soil science can enrich local communities and also revealing that there is more to soil than its mere 
utilisation. For such a task, the professional would need to display amateur qualities. The residual impact of 
these activities may spark interest and enthusiasm which could then be channelled into a Society of Amateur 
Soil Scientists that is yet to be created.  
 
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(1862) 'Pedologie oder Allgemeine und Besondere Bodenkunde.' (Schönfeld Buchhandlung:

A field manual for the amateur geologist: tools and activities for exploring our planet.

Amateur Astronomy Magazine. http://www.amateurastronomy.com/

An Evaluation of Skills and Attribute of Agriculture/Agribusiness Graduates for Biobased Industry and Economy. Paper Prepared for Presentation at the IAMA World Food and Agribusiness Symposium,

The need for soil science amateurs

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