How to communicate soil expertise more effectively in the information age when aiming at the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract Soil use and management play a key role, when maintaining or restoring soil quality, as an estimated 30% of soils in the world suffer from various forms of degradation. Several of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), approved in 2015 by 195 governments, are land‐related, providing a stimulating challenge for soil research. Unfortunately, soil degradation is still prominent, even though decades of research have resulted in restorative and innovative forms of soil management, generating successful case studies all over the world. Why don't enough farmers adopt such research results? Some argue that the problem of soil degradation is mainly socio‐economic rather than technical. However, this is not correct as the soil–water–plant–climate system raises many basic, unresolved questions about soil behaviour. More attention is needed for information sharing and knowledge building to link the research arena with stakeholders and policy makers. This is particularly urgent because the information revolution, which is fundamentally changing attitudes of increasingly critical stakeholders, presents a challenge to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information on Internet and social media. Continuous interaction with land users in the field and sharing knowledge in a joint‐learning mode is needed more than ever, recognizing that different forms of knowledge can contribute to acceptance in the practice of land‐use innovations and lead to realization of land‐related SDGs. Such forms of interaction take much time, which is of limited availability in current research regimes, and implies a need for change. Soil scientists need assistance from communication experts to facilitate interaction processes.