Soil is a dynamic, living matrix that is an essential part of the terrestrial ecosystem. It is a critical resource not only to agricultural production but also to the maintenance of most life processes. The living portion of the soil is composed of plant roots as well as communities of biota (living soil organisms) critical to the function of soils. Soils have enormous numbers of diverse organisms assembled in complex and varied communities. Soil that contains a balance of active biological components is essential to all agricultural systems. Our understanding of these soil communities is lacking or fragmentary and too often treated as a black box whose mechanisms are hidden or mysterious.

The quantity of living microorganisms in some soils exceeds 10% of the weight of soil organic (composed of plant and animal materials) matter, but the importance of the soil biotic community is often overlooked because most organisms are invisible to the naked eye. These communities are highly diverse and numerous, with microorganisms often numbering more than 10,000 species in about 1/30th of an ounce of soil. The role of soil populations is not well understood even though their importance is generally accepted. Rapid and accurate methods to identify single or even groups of organisms according to function in the soil are lacking.

To improve agroecosystem management, a greater for the appreciation is needed effects of soil biota on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties and processes and the air and water resources with which the soil interacts. Recognition is also needed of the effect of those interactions on problems, including production and mitigation of greenhouse gases and on improvement of crop and rangeland productivity. These needs were acknowledged by many USDA-ARS customers who identified soil biology as a high priority issue at the National Program workshop on Soil Resource Management. Improved understanding of soil biology and related processes potentially can increase farm profitability by optimizing external production inputs and reducing pathogen impacts.

Soil biota may be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental to plant growth; thus they must be effectively managed for maximum productivity. Improved soil biological management requires that we understand soil organisms and their ecological interactions. Land managers need unbiased information that will enable them to develop biologically-based management strategies to control or manipulate soil stabilization, nutrient cycling, crop diseases, pest infestations, and detoxification of natural and manmade contaminants. These strategies will require improved understanding of the effects on soil biota of habitats, food sources, host interactions, and the soil physical and chemical environment. Understanding the ecology regulating both beneficial and detrimental organisms is essential to harnessing and controlling their activity in agroecosystems. This knowledge will greatly benefit production of abundant, high quality agricultural products with less dependence upon external inputs. Our goal is to understand the soil biota to utilize this living component of the soil for the benefit of agricultural systems to increase crop productivity and quality, reduce input costs, and reduce negative environmental impacts.

Optimum utilization of soil biology for economical and profitable food, feed, fiber, and landscape plant production and environmental preservation

To understand soil biology and its interactions with soil and plants to develop management strategies for agricultural economic viability and environmental preservation.

A program planning workshop for the Soil Resource Management National Program was held in Denver, Colorado, from February 23-26, 1999. Approximately 150 participants attended the workshop including producers, commodity group representatives, agricultural industry representatives, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, university scientists, and scientists and administrators from ARS and other federal and state agencies. At the workshop, our customers, stakeholders, and partners provided input concerning their problems and needs relative to soil resource management. As a result of this input, the name of the National Program was changed to Soil Resource Management, and activities within the program were organized into five component areas: (1) Soil Conservation and Restoration, (2) Nutrient Management, (3) Soil Water, (4) Soil Biology, and (5) Productive and Sustainable Soil Management Systems.

A writing team composed of ARS scientists and members of the National Program Staff was formed for the Soil Biology component and each of the other components to develop planning documents that will provide a framework for ARS research. The writing team used input from the workshop, their own knowledge of the subject matter area, and input from ARS scientists to identify researchable problems that will be addressed. This planning document provides background information about the Soil Biology component and explains why a particular research area is important, how it will be addressed, and the benefits of conducting the research. After a public comment period this planning document will be revised, and the implementation phase of the process will begin. During the implementation planning phase, specific research areas will be identified; locations and projects involved will be determined; anticipated products or information generated by the research will be identified; and time lines and milestones for measuring progress toward achieving the goals will be developed.

This approach will result in coordinated, multi-location research projects, conducted by ARS scientists and their cooperators, to address high priority regional and national research needs. All projects associated with the Soil Resource Management National Program will be evaluated for scientific quality by an external peer review panel in the second half of the year 2000.

Table 1. ARS research locations conducting research contributing to specific problem areas within the Soil Biology Component of the Soil Resource Management National Program.

State	Location	Problem Area
		Soil Ecology	Rhizosphere Spermosphere	Management & Biota Interactions	Diseases, Pests, Weeds	Transformation Processes
AL	Auburn				X
AR	Booneville
AR	Fayetteville
AZ	Phoenix
AZ	Tucson
CA	Davis				X
CA	Fresno
CA	Riverside
CA	Salinas				X
CO	Akron			X
CO	Ft. Collins	X	X	X
FL	Gainesville
FL	Miami
GA	Tifton
GA	Watkinsville	X	X	X
IA	Ames			X	X	X
ID	Kimberly	X		X
IL	Urbana			X		X
IN	West Lafayette			X
KS	Manhattan
LA	Baton Rouge					X
ME	Orono	X	X	X	X
MD	Beltsville	X	X	X	X	X
MN	Morris	X	X	X	X
MN	St. Paul	X
MO	Columbia					X
MS	Oxford			X	X
MS	Stoneville	X	X	X		X
MT	Sidney	X	X	X
ND	Mandan				X
NE	Lincoln	X	X	X
NM	Las Cruces
NY	Ithaca
OH	Columbus
OH	Coshocton
OK	El Reno
OK	Stillwater				X
OR	Corvallis	X	X	X	X	X
OR	Pendleton	X	X	X
PA	University Park			X
PA	Wyndmoor	X	X	X
SC	Florence	X	X
SD	Brookings			X	X
TX	Bushland			X
TX	Lubbock
TX	Temple
TX	Weslaco
WA	Prosser				X
WA	Pullman	X	X	X	X
WA	Wenatchee				X
WI	Madison
WV	Beaver	X	X	X
WV	Kearneysville
WY	Cheyenne			X