Soils are neither “good” nor “bad”

Soils are neither “good” nor “bad” because the distinction is often based on their intended use. However many soils have characteristics that make specific management interventions desirable to avoid problems for agricultural production or environmental degradation. An arbitrary differentiation is made between “problem soils” in which the soil characteristics themselves pose problems for their optimal use, and “degraded soils” in which unwise management interventions create supplementary environmental and productive problems.