5.2. Farmers’ holistic view on soil quality
The interviews showed that farmers have a holistic view of their soils. Farmers see soil quality as a dynamic asset, integrating the chemical, physical and biological characteristics. As a farmer commented: “I cannot separate what happens in the soil … for me everything is related … it is alive … it is a living system … and the things happen in cycles.” (Bruno Ritter).
The Camaquã farmers are interested in soil productivity and appropriate management practices. Their view tends to be that a good soil is a ‘productive’ soil. They associate good soils with productive crops, as was also found by Bruyn and Abbey [39]. However, it was admitted that the relationship between yield (a measurement of soil productivity) and soil quality is complex. As farmers said: “Yield does not indicate a good soil. Any well-treated soil produces!” (Antônio Bartz). “The yield depends on the weather rather than other factors.” (Adelino Oswaldt).
These statements reveal that in the eyes of the farmers yield does not indicate good soil because they know they can manipulate their soils in order to get high yields. Thus, some of the potential indicators those farmers would use as ‘natural’ indicators of soil quality, they could not use it nowadays because of the intensive use of external inputs and/or modified seeds.