The relation between soil functions and land use has been lost to a certain extent in the course of the last century because of technological developments. If certain natural functions were inadequate for certain types of land use, technology was applied to overcome the problem. Soils that were too wet to allow plants to grow were drained, dry soils were irrigated and poor soils were fertilized. In earlier times with less available technology the picture was different as land use was largely determined and restricted by functions that could be performed by the natural soil.

Increasing emphasis on sustainable development during the last few decades has shown that changing the natural functions of soil often comes at a price: drainage may lead to rapid oxidation of peat and generation of greenhouse gases, to acidification in marine soils with pyrite or to drastic changes in natural ecosystems in a broader sense. Irrigation may lead to salinization or erosion and, thereby, also to disturbance of natural ecosystems. Fertilization often results in water pollution when more fertilizer is applied than can be adsorbed by the growing crop, which is common. When designing sustainable land-use systems, in which economic, environmental and social criteria are somehow being balanced, it pays to take natural soil functions into account so as to avoid major deviations of natural processes which are likely to lead to disturbances that may be difficult to correct.