Reviving Legacy Soil Data for Modern Agronomy

Reviving Legacy Soil Data for Modern Agronomy

Joshua O. Minai1*, Darrell G. Schulze1and Zamir Libohova2
1 Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States,2 US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services, Lincoln, NE, United States
Mucholdersoilsinformation,collectivelyknownaslegacysoilsdataliesidleinlibraries
orinthepersonalcollectionsofretiredsoilscientists.Theprobabilityisveryhighfor
thislegacydatatobelostordestroyed.Wedemonstratesthestepwiseprocessof
bringinglegacysoilsdata“backtolife”usingtheReconnaissanceSoilSurveyofthe
Pedometrics,
a section of the journal Keywords: Busia, data archeology, data rescue, data renewal, land quality map, crop suitability map
Frontiers in Soil Science

considerablesoilsinformation(7,8).Unfortunately,most legacysoildataoftenremainsidleinlibraries(6),andthe probability is very high of such data being lost through natural, manmade,orpoliticaldisasters,orsimplyneglect(9).In addition,thenumberofindividualsinvolvedinthedescription andinterpretationofexistinglegacysoildata,especiallyin mostAfricancountries,issmallanddecreasingasmanysoil surveyorsareretiringormovingtootherpositions.Ourvisits totheKenyaSoilSurveyinthespringof2016confirmedthis narrative. Most of the legacy soil data was left unused and stored in library shelves, some were in private collections of retired soil scientists, and those in digital…