2015 is the UN International Year of Soils and this talk aims to highlight the nature and significance of soils. After a brief introduction and demonstration of soil properties emphasis is given to outlining the main challenges for achieving soil sustainability. The current world population is about 7 billion and this is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050. Feeding such a number will only be realised by a substantial increase in agricultural production. The main challenges to this are from soil erosion, decline in soil carbon, availability of water for irrigation, salinization of soils, depletion of phosphorus resources and soil loss from urbanization. Given that about 99% of the world’s food comes from agriculture, there is an urgent need to develop integrated soil management by intercropping and the more efficient management of inputs.