Soil and Products We Use

The Soil Science Society of America has chosen the month of October, in this the International Year of Soils, to showcase the range of products we utilize every day that come from the soil.  Soil contributes so much more than ground for us to stand on, and plays a part in nearly every aspect of our lives!  Some of the functions of soil are obvious, like providing a medium for the growth of crops and timber;  however, some of soil’s contributions may not be so clear, like its role in the production of computer chips or medicine.  Let’s take a deeper look into the variety of products and byproducts we get from soil!

Harvests from Soil

Soil provides us some of the most basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and clothing.  We grow and harvest food from our soil.  We use soil to grow cotton, which we harvest and process into clothing.  Sand, a type of soil, provides the basis for concrete which we then build with.  We also use wood for our buildings, and bricks made from clay, another type of soil.

These may seem like fairly obvious functions of soil, but when you branch out from this base layer, it becomes clear that soil has an expansive list of duties that span into nearly every corner of our everyday lives.  For example, those clothes soil provided us with are stored in wooden chests and wood framed closets.  The food we have harvested is prepared and eaten on ceramic dishware, made from clay.  The pencils we write with, and the paper we write on come from trees.  The window we look out was produced with sand, and the leather on your furniture, clothes, or shoes comes from cows, which grazed grass from the soil.  These functions of soil are often taken for granted, but are still quickly and easily appreciated again.

What about the jobs soil does that are even less obvious?  Certain plants are grown in soil and harvested for special purposes, like the production of ethanol, which can power your car.  Medicine, specifically antibiotics is derived from the chemical excrement of microorganisms that live in the soil.  The same is also true for most antifungal medications available today.  The technology we use every day also uses products of soil to help make our lives easier.  Silicon processed from the sandy soils is used in computer chips to allow us to send emails, watch TV, use social media, and much more.  Soil really does have a far reaching influence over many aspects of our daily lives!

Soil Minerals and Their Functions

Minerals are the inorganic compounds that weather away from rock, and soil is made up of many different minerals.  Minerals have unique properties and add variation to different areas of soils.  It is this variation that allows soil to provide us with such a diverse assortment of products.  Minerals vary in color and different compositions of organic matter and minerals will produce soil with different colors.

Minerals in soil also serve a wide range of functions in our daily lives.  For example, some minerals are particularly chemically reactive, and the presence of these volatile minerals over a large surface area often make for a more sophisticated natural filter.  These mineral agents are utilized in water treatment facilities or pool filters to remove pollutants from the water.  Minerals that are minimally reactive are good for producing stabilizers, often used in stomach medicine.  Other minerals found in the soil are used in products ranging from sunscreen and jewelry to fertilizer and drywall compounds.

The diverse assortment of products from the soil not only provides us with convenience, but is also necessary to our everyday activities.  Nearly every aspect of our lives is influenced or dependent upon some particular item that is a product or byproduct of soil.  The vitality of soil and its preservation is of the utmost importance for all of these reasons and more!

For more information on soil, its products, and more go to the Soil Science Society of America’s website.

Tags: Soil Health, International Year of Soils, IYS, October, Soil and Its Products