During the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, the Russian pavilion presented an astonishing showcase. We saw exposed, for the first time, a block of 8 m3 of soil brought back from the great agricultural plains (1). It was the geologist Vassili V. Dokutchaïev (1846-1903) and his team who came to present to the whole world a large clod of “chernozem”, this local black earth which became the symbol of a scientific revolution in progress: the birth of pedology.
Indeed, until then, and particularly in Western Europe, the study of soils was essentially a matter of geology, due to an apparently obvious link between the surface layers of the soil and the deep rocks. But sometimes it takes disasters for the evidence to fall. In 1873 and 1875, two particularly severe droughts struck the region of the “chernozem steppes” in the south of the country. However, they were already supplying part of the cereals exported by the port of Odessa on behalf of Russian traders heading for Northern Europe. The geologist was therefore invited to carry out the investigation.
Traveling for four years and over almost 10,000 km of the region, from Ukraine to Moldavia, Dokoutchaev became aware that soils are living structures, shaped by climate and complex biological phenomena. A new definition imposed itself on him: “The ground is a natural body, independent and variable”, as important as the plant, animal and mineral world. He understood that the first meters of the ground play an astonishing role of interface between an inert and mineral reality, the deep rocks, and the swarming and organic world of the surface.
A naturally rich soil in Ukraine
Since then, pedology has made immense progress, also describing the exceptional character of Chernozem. This clay soil owes its black color to a composition very rich in organic substances resulting from the slow decomposition of surface plants under the effect of animals, bacteria, fungi, etc. In present-day Ukraine, so painfully hit by a bloody conflict that bruises both the populations and their soils, the black earth is made up of 3 to 15% of this decomposing organic matter, nicely called “humus”.
This soil is naturally rich in mineral elements, with a high humidity level, to the point that very often the addition of chemical fertilizers or plowing work is not necessary. The 35 million arable lands of the country (the equivalent of a third of the arable surface of the European Union) constitute a natural heritage which attracts many covetousnesses.
But what if land ceased to be a right for the powerful who like to defy borders? What if it becomes what it has always been: an invitation to respect and humility in the face of the incredible vitality of the biological phenomena that allow us to live on this earth? Dokuchayev understood this. After another drought in the region, in 1891 he published an anthologyOur steppes then and now. It is none other than one of the first attempts at ecological balance planning in history, proposing the installation of windbreak hedges, ponds and the practice of rotations with crops, meadows and forests. .