Increased access to soil testing databases through the World Wide Web: Opportunities and issues

Soil testing laboratories throughout the United States have assisted agricultural producers to more efficiently manage soil nutrient amendments since the 1940s. Information generated during soil testing, such as client and sample information, and results of soil analyses and nutrient recommendations, are maintained in records referred to collectively as the soil testing database. The purpose of this paper is to discuss current and potential uses of soil testing databases and issues associated with increased access to this environmental information through electronic media such as the World Wide Web. Current uses of soil testing databases include determining general trends in nutrient levels on county, state or regional scales, evaluating the performance of the soil testing laboratory and testing for relationships among soil properties. Typically, public access to soil testing databases is restricted to annual summaries which protect the confidentiality of individual soil test clients. However, in an effort to improve services for clients, soil testing laboratories have begun to use the World-Wide Web to provide clients and other authorized individuals password-protected access to soil testing results. Possible additional benefits of webbased access are the opportunity to facilitate client feedback and to provide decision support programs and information for clients. Other potential uses of the soil testing database could be progressively more intrusive on the privacy rights of soil test clients, including commercial marketing of fertilizer products and evaluation of compliance with environmental regulations. Issues of privacy and ownership of environmental information first may need to be addressed. possibly through legislation, before soil-testing databases can be fully utilized without inhibiting public participation in soil testing programs. We envision that once appropriate policies and safeguards are developed to protect the rights of clients, soil testing databases could be part of an interactive and centralized geographically referenced database that integrates available information, promotes more rapid communication, and provides low-cost and customized client decision support in environmental and agricultural management.