Historical and Sociocultural Aspects of Soil Organic Matter and Soil Organic Carbon Benefits - Soil Carbon: Science, Management and Policy for Multiple Benefits - page 169

14 Historical and Sociocultural Aspects
of Soil Organic Matter and Soil Organic
Carbon Benefits

Christian Feller*, Claude Compagnone, Frédéric Goulet and Annie Sigwalt

Abstract
In this chapter, soil organic matter (SOM) benefits will be considered from two different perspectives:
(i) the scientific perception of 'SOM benefits' between the 18th century and today; and (ii) how various
contemporary religions and societies, including farmers of Western cultures, perceive soil and SOM
benefits.
Perceptions of the benefits of SOM (or humus) varied greatly in Western culture according to changes
in historical scientific theories. Different periods can be considered. In the first part of 19th century, the
'theory of humus' by Thaer, dealing with a large popularity of SOM management for soil humus, was con-
sidered as the main nutrient for plants. In 1840, the new 'theory of the mineral nutrition of plants by
Liebig demonstrated that humus was not the main source of nutrients for plants, with the consequence
that there was no important need to manage organic fertilization: the popularity of humus was largely
decreasing. With the emergence of environmental problems due to bad SOM management, the popularity
of OM management is newly increasing. The best example is the concept that soil could be a large reser-
voir for atmospheric carbon sequestration, and this confers special attention to plant residue management.
In addition to scientific knowledge or economic considerations, the practices of farmers around the
world are also highly dependent on their own culture (religious and cult aspects). To illustrate this point,
this chapter gives as examples not only the beliefs of the Buryat (Lake Baikal) and the Dogon people
(Mali) but also the opinions of three groups of French farmers towards soil and the benefits of SOM, deal-
ing with completely different attitudes vis-à-vis the adoption of different agricultural alternatives.

Introduction

of new techniques by agronomists) or a
single person.
Hence, this chapter will deal essentially
with the perception of the 'soil organic mat-
ter (SOM) benefits' at different sociocultural
levels. As carbon (C) is a part of SOM, SOM
benefits include 'soil organic carbon (SOC)
benefits', and these will be considered from
three different perspectives, i.e.:

The concept of 'benefit' (arising from an
idea, a discovery, an invention, a proced-
ure, etc.) implicitly suggests its possible
application. The sociological impacts of
such applications may involve a whole so-
ciety (e.g. benefits from agriculture), a par-
ticular sociocultural group (appropriation