Look at our soil! Visual soil evaluation is more important than ever

Abstract Soil quality and its implications for overall environmental health and functioning have been intensively discussed in the past few years. Increasing population puts pressure on agricultural land use, and climate change severely threatens soil quality. Visual soil evaluation is a valuable and likely the most accessible tool for farmers to observe changes in soil quality. Agricultural advisers and scientists play a major role in communicating this message, sensitizing farmers and supplying them with locally adapted tools for visual soil evaluation. Visual soil evaluation utilizes easily identifiable indicators of soil health, assessable through a simple ‘visual‐tactile’ approach, either qualitatively or semi‐quantitatively. Some of the approaches focus solely on soil physical characteristics, referred to as visual assessment of soil structure, while others adopt a broader perspective, including biological and chemical factors. This article aims to stimulate the scientific debate about how visual soil evaluation can help to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge about soil functioning and the extensive use of such methods. In this context, farmers play a vital role as they till huge areas and are therefore moved to the focus of this commentary article.