The issue of interdisciplinary context of Soil Science is being addressed by the Soil Science Society of America. In their revised white paper dated March 25, 2011 entitled "Securing a future for soil science – A white paper", Or et al. have redefined the disciplinary context of Soil Science as follows:
 
"The evolving and broader context of soil science is derived from an array of functions and critical services provided by soils that include and transcend food production:

• Soil is the planet's life support system, functioning as Earth's life support—a thin layer of life covering much of the terrestrial surface;
   
  
• Soil is the most biologically active element of the biosphere, hosting the largest pool of biodiversity of all biospheres;
   
  
• Soil is a functioning complex natural body with unique characteristics and emergent behaviors that cannot be deduced from a collection of its constituents or individual processes; soil integrates Earth processes in which it is intrinsically linked;
   
  
• Soil is a giant recycling system, providing food, feed, fiber, and, increasingly, energy production through biofuels;
   
  
• Soil supports global biogeochemical cycles (C, N, P and S), representing the Earth's largest terrestrial stock of organic carbon;
   
  
• Soil provides important ecosystem services (e.g., provisions of fresh and clean water) essential for human needs, including drinking water and food, carbon storage, and flood regulation; and
   
  
• Soil preserves the sedimentary record upon which human history is imprinted."

The challenge of repositioning Soil Science in the context of Earth Systems Science needs to be met in order to integrate the knowledge of Soil Science into other disciplines.
 
Here is a link to the paper by Ori et al. 'Securing a future for soil science – A white paper'.
 

FAO is promoting Conservation Agriculture (CA) across the world. According to their website, Conservation Agriculture is an approach to managing agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, increased profits and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment. CA is characterized by three linked principles, namely:

1. Continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance.
2. Permanent organic soil cover.
3. Diversification of crop species grown in sequences and/or associations.

Here is a link to to the FAO website: FAO:AG:Conservation agriculture