Diversity in our workforce is important, as people from different backgrounds and experiences bring unique perspectives to any undertaking. Increasing diversity in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce has received considerable attention in the United States (USA) over the last 20 years, but soil science has been late to the diversity table. Soil science is one of the least diverse STEM fields in the USA, and the first peer-reviewed papers addressing diversity in soil science did not appear until 2019. Data from university websites and the Soil Science Society of America was used to investigate gender equity in soil science and the participation of minority groups. Major results include: 1) Soil science is a male dominated field, with approximately 70% of soil faculty being men. 2) Women have made gains in recent years. The undergraduate student body is now over 50% women, the graduate student body is nearly 50% women, and there are more women on our faculty than in the past. 3) Women lack in top positions, such as full professor and department chairs, in academic programs. 4) Women receive professional recognition through top awards and election to top offices at rates that are often lower than their representation within the field. 5) Some subfields of soil science have strong representation from women. 6) White/Caucasian members dominate the soil science workforce. Ideas concerning why women and minorities are not well represented in soil science and what can be done to rectify this will be discussed.

This paper recognises the importance of connecting soils’ knowledge to community and focuses more deliberately on how it is undertaken. Sharing soil knowledge between people over a sustained period improves soil management, creating a healthy soil. To sustain soil there is no more pressing action than ensuring those who manage soil know how to conserve it and ensure its protection. Soil scientists and practitioners often work independently of each other, with limited opportunity to learn from each other and share their knowledge. The framing of soil by role in its care tends to separate communities of interest, with few opportunities or mechanisms to learn from each other. Enhancing how we can connect community to soil and all its complexities in the digital era is complex with a mismatch between the needs of the practitioner and the information available. At the same time the people with a depth of experience, expertise and local knowledge of soil is shrinking with less people working directly with soil. Yet society has not put processes in place to capture the legacy knowledge and experience, and enable the support of the next generation of soil practitioners or soil scientists. Many institutions are grappling with how best to achieve soil knowledge exchange and sharing in similar contexts, but the experiences of people working at the coal- or chalk-face is rarely shared with a wider audience. I plan to share with you some ideas for sharing soils’ knowledge so it is inclusive and accessible to a wider audience.

The role of soil biodiversity and soil ecological processes in agricultural management and ecosystem restoration has received increasing attention over recent decades. This is a global trend, limited not only to management of smallholder farming systems, but also encompassing the drive to increase soil carbon stores, enhance soil quality in restoration sites, and to improve understanding of the ecosystem services provided by soil biota. Underpinning this research and practice is local and Indigenous knowledge of soil biota and soil biological processes. This presentation reviews the global trends in the published literature on understanding and incorporating local and Indigenous knowledge of soil biology and ecology. The field has evolved from ‘cataloguing’ local knowledge of soil indicators and attempting to align local knowledge with scientific data, towards research co-design and a deeper appreciation of the rich knowledge developed over long periods of time through daily interaction with soils, ecosystems and crops. Several case studies from around the world, including examples from urban, rural and remote Australia, are used to illustrate the key trends in the field, and the areas for future exploration. The results of the synthesis presented here offer insights for land management, ecosystem restoration, conservation, agricultural extension and education, land use policy and future research on sustainable agriculture.