Soil connectivity makes university social responsibility practice in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper describes examples of actions taken for the connectivity between soil and society to inspire soil awareness in Taiwan, particularly by the practices of university social responsibility (USR) including workshops of soil survey education in Taiwan (WOSSET) carried out from 2015 to 2019, the Farmers Academy, soil profiles diagnoses for crop growth, the soil museum, and soil art applications. In the WOSSET, the students learned the skills of soil description, classification and interpretation on the impacts of soil management, suitability classes of crop production and land uses. The students considered the experience from the WOSSET as positive impacts on their professional careers making them “seed-spreaders” for soil connectivity between scientists and the general public by promoting their dedication to future practices of USR. In the program of the Farmers Academy, soil concepts related to soil properties, fertilizer, plant nutrition, compost and soil management have been taught by speakers from university faculties; thus the trained young farmers are able to obtain new knowledge of soil science even through the simple observation of soil profile morphology, which are helpful links among crop root growth, soil management and climate change. Inspired by the visual impact from the visits to soil museum in the university, soil was applied as pigments by artists on artistic practices such as painting and fabric. The actions of soil connectivity enable the general public and students to understand soil functions and soil security as well as construct the knowledge foundation of communication on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).