Fertility Capability Classification (FCC)

The Fertility Capability Classification is a technical system of grouping soils according to the kind of problems they present for agronomic management of their chemical and physical properties. Basically it offers a method for translating arcane soil classification labels into soil property characteristics relevant for management. FCC emphasizes quantifiable topsoil parameters as well as subsoil properties directly relevant to plant growth. The system consists of three categorical levels: type, substrata type and 15 modifiers. The type refers to the texture of the top 20 cm or plough layer, whichever is shallower, and can take the values: ‘sandy’, ‘loamy’,’ clayey’, or ‘organic’. The substrata type can take the values: ‘sandy’,’ loamy’, ‘clayey’ or ‘rock’. The modifiers include ‘gley’, ‘dry’, ‘low cation exchange capacity’, ‘aluminum toxicity’, ‘acid’, ‘high P-fixation by iron’, ‘X-ray amorphous’, ‘vertisol’, ‘low K reserves’, ‘basic reaction’, ‘salinity’, ‘natric’, ‘cat clay’, ‘gravelly’, ‘slope’. Each of these terms are strictly defined and correspond with quantitative limits provided by either the USDA Soil Taxonomy classification system or the FAO-UNESCO Legend of the Soil Map of the World, and the values are to be obtained from either field observations or laboratory measurements.