Soil performance plays a crucial role for the survival and
development of civilisations by providing food,
fibre and essential
goods for an ever-increasing world population (Hillel, 2009). The
production of food and
fibre is based on the soil “productivity
function” and is considered one of the main soil functions (Blum,
1993; EC, 2006). Recent studies show that food production is not
keeping pace with the increasing demand for food (Cassman et al.,
2003; Richter et al., 2007) and suggest a sustainable soil system