Much of the early soil analysis was conducted for pedological investigations and elemental concentrations were presented as oxides. Soil analysis for soil fertility assessment was developed in Europe since there was less of a need for maintaining the fertility of the soil in the USA. Considerable developments in soil fertility research have occurred since the 1950s with technological advances in new products, field and laboratory experiments, and a range of new instrumentations.  Soil productivity has increased and so have several environmental problems. Much of the analysis in soil fertility research is restricted to a limited depth and provides little information about potential crop yields. The soil is not part of the numerous ratios and indicators of nutrient use efficiencies which largely determine nutrient application rates. This talk will provide a historical overview of these developments and will offer some ideas for the use of soil analysis in integrated nutrient management, and a whole soil approach to advance agricultural science for global sustainability.

Current definitions of ‘essential‘ or ’beneficial‘ elements for plant growth rely on narrowly defined criteria that do not fully represent a new vision for plant nutrition, but compromise fertilizer regulation and practice. A new definition of what is a ‘plant nutrient’ that is founded in science and relevant in practice has the potential to revitalize innovation and discovery. A proposed new definition might read: A mineral plant nutrient is an element which is needed for plant growth and development or for the quality attributes of the harvested product, of a given plant species, grown in its natural or cultivated environment . It includes elements currently identified as essential, elements for which a clear plant metabolic function has been identified, as well as elements that have demonstrated clear benefits to plant productivity, crop quality, resource use efficiency, stress tolerance or pest and disease resistance. We propose an open scientific debate to refine and implement this updated definition of plant nutrients. Other outcomes of this debate could be a more precise definition of the experimental evidence required to classify an element as a plant nutrient, and an independent scientific body to regularly review the list of essential and beneficial elements. The debate could also attempt to refine the definition of plant nutrients to better align with nutrients deemed essential for animal and human nutrition, thus following a more holistic ’one nutrition‘ concept.

This paper will take a reflective ‘big picture’ overview on the issues facing water quality and agricultural production, highlighting some of the key challenges for soil, plant and water analysts, and how we prepare ourselves for moving forward into the 2030s. It will adopt a global perspective and will set the issues in context with a range of water quality issues and polluting substances, but with a special focus given to phosphorus, as a topical and timely nutrient ‘exemplar’. Phosphorus as a nutrient has worked wonders for global food production, but it is only a matter of a few decades since we started accelerating the global phosphorus cycle, moving fertiliser around the planet to help food production. In some parts of the world, substantial quantities of phosphorus are now accumulating in our soils and our river catchments, that present a longer-term potential threat to water quality, yet to be realised. There is certainly a longer-term legacy-effect of agriculturally polluting substances that is waiting to fully emerge in our global freshwaters and oceans. Equally as concerningly, there are huge imbalances in fertiliser access and there is an opportunity to become more efficient in nutrient use to increase agricultural sustainability and thus reduce water quality issues. The paper will share model frameworks, to help us look forward to managing agriculture and water quality in a holistic, system-based and, hopefully, sustainable way.