In a cash-grain cropping system, cover crops are a good way to integrate these principles. Another way of improving soil health is livestock integration, as livestock manure jump-starts soil biological activity.

Economically, livestock provide an opportunity for farmers to grow more perennials and cover crops for forage. Livestock can be integrated on row crop land by allowing winter and fall grazing of cover crops and crop residues, and spring and summer grazing of annual and perennial plants.

How does soil health management change soil water behavior? Farmers across Minnesota apply these principles in creative ways. A new research project in partnership with the Sand County Foundation and Farmers Edge aims to understand how the application of soil health principles changes soil water behavior.

Farmers and researchers both have access to daily soil temperature and moisture data to 40 inches, which will help us understand how soil health management changes water movement through the profile.

The farms include many soil types and cropping systems, contributing to the ongoing efforts at the Minnesota Office for Soil Health to compile a database of regional soil health metrics. Stay tuned for research updates here and at UMN Extension events as we learn more about the interaction between soil health and water behavior.

Urban farms are diverse and adaptable, ranging from small farms on repurposed vacant lots to multilevel vertical farms and rooftop gardens. Often, they combine ecological farming practices with some form of infrastructure.

Urban growers make clever use of their […]. Smart farmers know that healthy soil hosts a flourishing and diverse ecosystem of bacteria, fungi and invertebrates. But the complex relationships between soil life, productivity and resilience are not well understood.

Now available from the Xerces Society and SARE, Farming with Soil Life: A Handbook for Supporting Soil Invertebrates and Soil Health on Farms is […]. This award-winning report provides a sampler of best practices in sustainable agriculture—from marketing and community vitality to cover crops and grazing—as well as eight profiles of producers, educators and researchers who have successfully implemented them.

SARE recently partnered with PBS KVIE to produce an episode of RFD-TV's America's Heartland featuring four farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to overcome modern farming challenges, and how SARE has impacted their farming and ranching practices.

Watch: Videos featuring each […]. SARE partnered with PBS KVIE to produce an episode of RFD-TV's America's Heartland that features four farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to meet farming challenges of today and tomorrow, and how SARE has impacted their farming and ranching practices.

The full minute video is available, as is each segment featuring the […]. SARE partnered with PBS KVIE to produce this episode, which features farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to meet farming […].

This handbook, created by The Xerces Society, dives into soil biology. It provides a connection between healthy soils and healthy invertebrates found in temperate agricultural soils. Farming with Soil Life starts with a review of soil basics, including the functions, classifications and properties physical, biological and chemical of soil.

It provides detailed methods on how […]. Transitioning to Organic Production lays out many promising conversion strategies, covering typical organic farming production practices, innovative marketing ideas and federal standards for certified organic crop production.

Experienced farmers and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education SARE provide information on managing and improving soil health. Farmers discuss practices such as cover cropping, and using mulch and compost to improve soil health. The hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi are seen as dark blue, threadlike structures in the photo above.

In the background is a corn root colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Plants require both oxygen and water in the root zone for optimum growth. In soil, water and air are held in the pore space between soil particles and soil aggregates.

The sizes of the pores that occur between and within soil aggregates determine how water and gases move in and are held by the soil. Larger pores, known as macropores, are important to promote good aeration and rapid infiltration of rainfall. Smaller pores, known as micropores, are important for absorbing and holding water.

Macropores are often visible to the naked eye, while micropores between and within microaggregates are not. To maintain both adequate aeration and water supply for optimum plant growth, it is necessary to have both macro- and micropores in the soil.

Soil on the left easily crumbles upon handling, revealing well-formed macroaggregates and the macropores between the aggregates. Soil on the right is cloddy, with only a few macropores where the soil has been ruptured. Soil on the right is from an intensively tilled field, whereas soil on the left is from the grass sod adjacent to the same field.

Pores in the soil are formed when soil particles clump together into a hierarchy of aggregates. Soil organisms play an important role in developing soil aggregates and improving aggregate stability. Aggregate stability refers to the ability of soil aggregates to hold together against the erosive forces of water.

Good aggregate stability will help maintain macropores in the soil, reduce surface crusting, promote aeration and reduce rainfall runoff, and reduce soil erosion. Aggregates also help conserve soil organic matter, as particles of organic matter that reside within aggregates are physically protected against microbial consumption.

Many large soil organisms are capable of moving soil and creating macropores in the soil. These include such organisms as ants, dung beetles, and earthworms. Earthworms are probably the best-known soil organism that contributes to the development and maintenance of soil structure.

The burrowing activity of earthworms benefits soil health through increased nutrient availability, better drainage, and a more stable soil structure.

Earthworm burrows seen from the soil surface left and in the subsoil right. Burrows create macropores at the soil surface and in the subsoil, enhancing water infiltration, drainage, and root growth into the subsoil. Earthworm casts, as seen at the surface surrounding the burrow on the left and filling an abandoned burrow on the right, are nutrient rich and glue soil into water-stable aggregates.

Note the roots growing in the abandoned burrow in the photo on the right. Soil organic matter plays an important role in integrating many aspects of soil health.

Soil organic matter can be divided into labile and stable pools, each of which has different characteristics and functions in the soil.

In agricultural soils, organic matter can range from 1 to 8 percent depending on climate, soil type, and soil management practices. The labile pool of organic matter, which accounts for 5—20 percent of the total pool of soil organic matter, includes the living biomass of soil organisms and plant roots, fine particles of organic detritus, and relatively simple organic compounds such as polysaccharides, organic acids, and other compounds that are synthesized by microbial activity or are by-products of decomposition processes.

Labile organic matter is readily decomposed by microbes and is the principal energy source that fuels the soil food web. It is the principal reservoir of organic nitrogen that can be readily mineralized and made available for plant use.

Polysaccharides in labile organic matter also enhance aggregate stability. When microbial consumption of labile organic matter is greater than the input of fresh organic matter into the soil, labile organic matter levels will decline. Excessive tillage of the soil can speed the decline of labile organic matter by oxygenating the soil, which increases microbial activity, and by exposing organic matter that had been protected within soil aggregates.

The stable pool of organic matter, which accounts for 60—95 percent of the total pool of soil organic matter, consists of organic compounds that are relatively resistant to decomposition because of either their chemical structure, their adsorption to clay particles, or their protection within microaggregates.

Stable organic matter contributes cation exchange capacity and water-holding capacity to soil. The pool of stable organic matter is increased or depleted slowly as only a small portion of the labile organic matter that cycles through the food web is stabilized into forms that are resistant to decomposition.

The quantity of organic matter in a given soil is the result of a balance between organic matter inputs, such as crop residues, manure, and compost, and the rate of organic matter decomposition. Organic matter inputs can be influenced by crop management, such as the use of cover crops, crop rotations, and residue management, as well as soil management, such as using organic forms of nutrients like compost and manure.

The quantity of labile organic matter generally responds to changes in management practices more quickly than the quantity of stable soil organic matter, so changes in labile organic matter levels can serve as a leading indicator of long-term trends in total organic matter levels. Excessive tillage is harmful to soil health in a number of ways.

Tillage increases oxygen in the soil, stimulating microbial activity, and results in the decomposition of organic matter. Tillage also disrupts soil aggregates, exposing particles of organic matter that had been physically protected within aggregates to microbial consumption.

If additions of organic matter are not sufficient to counteract the losses from decomposition, organic matter levels will decline over time, reducing soil health. Inversion tillage also reduces the soil coverage provided by crop residues, leaving soil more exposed to erosion.

Tillage with a moldboard plow left side of the photo inverts the soil, burying weeds, sod, and surface residue. Chisel plowing right side of the photo loosens the soil without inversion, retaining residue on the soil surface. Tillage can also disrupt the hyphal network of mycorrhizal fungi, which can lead to their decline over time.

When not managed carefully, most inversion and noninversion tillage methods compact the subsoil, creating a plow pan, which restricts root growth and access to water and nutrients in the subsoil. Excessive wheel and foot traffic can compact the surface soil, reducing macroporosity and impeding root growth.

Soil compaction occurs when soil is exposed to excessive foot and equipment traffic while the soil is wet and plastic. This traffic compresses the soil, reducing pore space and increasing bulk density. Macropores are compressed more so than micropores, leading to poor water infiltration and drainage and increased runoff.

Soil compaction increases soil hardness, making it more difficult for plant roots to grow through the soil. The reduction in pore space also affects habitat for many soil organisms that are very small, cannot move soil particles, and are restricted to existing pore space and channels in the soil.

Physical disturbances such as inversion tillage can also have profound effects on the biological properties of soil. Compaction and removal of surface residue may contribute to reduction in soil moisture and living space for soil-dwelling organisms. Diversity and abundance of arthropod predators associated with the soil surface can be greater under conservation tillage management in comparison to conventional inversion tillage, and natural control of pest insects in soil may be enhanced in conservation tillage systems.

Beneficial insects associated with the soil are more likely to survive in fields where noninversion e. In comparison with inversion tillage practices e. Some tillage is still a necessary practice in certain production systems, especially organic systems that do not use herbicides for weed control.

When tillage is used, it is important to offset the increased rate of organic matter decomposition with increased inputs of organic matter through crop residues, manure, and compost. Integrating several years of a perennial forage crop into a rotation with annual crops that require tillage is one way to reduce tillage intensity over time.

To maintain or increase soil organic matter levels, inputs of organic matter must meet or exceed the losses of organic matter due to decomposition.

Healthy crops can be a valuable source of organic matter, and crop residues should be returned to the soil to the extent possible. Incorporation of cover crops or perennial crops and judicious additions of animal and green manure and compost can also be used to increase or maintain soil organic matter.

Soil organic matter content can be monitored over time if you request an organic matter analysis when submitting soil fertility samples to your soil testing laboratory.

Be sure that your organic matter comparisons over time are based on data from the same lab or from labs that use the same procedure for organic matter analysis, as results can differ significantly between analysis methods. Cover crops contribute numerous benefits to soil health.

They keep the soil covered during the winter and other periods of time when crops are not growing, reducing the risk of erosion. The biomass produced by cover crops is usually returned to the soil, enhancing organic matter levels. Cover crops with taproots can create macropores and alleviate compaction.

Fibrous-rooted cover crops can promote aggregation and stabilize the soil. Species of cover crops that host mycorrhizal fungi can sustain and increase the population of these beneficial fungi.

Legume cover crops can add nitrogen to the soil through nitrogen fixation. Cover crops can retain nitrate and other nutrients that are susceptible to leaching losses.

Forage radish, a taprooted cover crop left , and cereal rye, a fibrous-rooted cover crop right. Beneficial insects that contribute to biological control or pest organisms can be harmed by the application of broad-spectrum insecticides.

Farmscaping is a whole-farm, ecological approach to increase and manage biodiversity with the goal of increasing the presence of beneficial organisms. Farmscaping methods include the use of insectary plants, hedgerows, cover crops, and water reservoirs to attract and support populations of beneficial organisms such as insects, spiders, amphibians, reptiles, bats, and birds that parasitize or prey on insect pests.

Farmscapes placed in contours between fields, steep ditches, or places that are easily eroded give stability to the soil. Farmscaping can also be used as a filter strip to prevent water runoff and soil erosion. Plants used in farmscapes contribute to healthy soil by adding organic matter, the base of the soil food web.

Diverse crop rotations will help break up soilborne pest and disease life cycles, improving crop health. Rotations can also assist in managing weeds. By growing diverse crops in time and space, pests that thrive within a certain crop are not given a chance to build their populations over time.

By capturing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and storing them underground, through the assistance of living plants and microbes, we improve both the atmosphere and the soil.

CDFA Home California's Healthy Soils Initiative California's Healthy Soils Initiative California's Healthy Soils Initiative is a collaboration of state agencies and departments, led by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to promote the development of healthy soils.

Healthy Soils Partnership Workshops The California Department of Food and Agriculture CDFA and California Air Resources Board are announcing a series of stakeholder workshops on the development of a framework for public-private partnerships to invest in scaling up healthy soils practices.

More information. Local Resources. Healthy Soils Program HSP Natural Resource Conservation Service NRCS NRCS Steps to Soil Health Resource Conservation Districts.

Cycling nutrients Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and many other nutrients are stored, transformed, and cycled in the soil. Providing physical stability and support Soil structure provides a medium for plant roots.

Soils also provide support for human structures and protection for archeological treasures. Soil Health Pages. Soil Health Assessment Soil health is an assessment of how well soil performs all of its functions now and how those functions are being preserved for future use.

Learn More. Soil Health Management Maximizing soil health is essential to maximizing profitability. Soil Health Education and Outreach Lesson plans, educator guides, soil quality test kits, soil health posters, and other educational resources about soil health.

Additional Information. Soil Health Literature Literature compiled from peer-reviewed papers relating to the impact of conservation practices on soil properties important for soil health. How to Get Assistance Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?

Print this information. Step 1: Make a Plan To get started with NRCS, we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected.

To meet other eligibility certifications. Step 4: Rank your application NRCS will take a look at the applications and rank them according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants.

Find Your Local Service Center USDA Service Centers are locations where you can connect with Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, or Rural Development employees for your business needs. Select your state - Please select - Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District Of Columbia Federated States of Micronesia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Palau Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virgin Islands Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming.

Select your county. This increases the infiltration of water and minimises the soil erosion that can follow heavy rainfall. Strategically manage grazing and pastures to maintain ground cover and encourage root growth, both of which are important to protecting the soil and maintaining its health.

Time control or rotational grazing allows for the physical and chemical recovery of the soil after each grazing period. Improving soil health is a key focus of regenerative agriculture , which seeks to restore farm ecosystems and the environment as a whole. Healthy soils have a greater ability to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2 as soil organic carbon.

This is one option for reducing greenhouse gases and ultimately slowing the process of climate change. To learn more about regenerative agriculture and what it could mean for the sustainability and profitability of your operation, check out our live panel discussion.

Amber works on AgriWebb's marketing team and is responsible for all AU content creation, social media and event coordination. See all articles 🌐 How Can We Improve the Health of Our Soil? by Amber Woods 8 December 10 min read.

Six Ways to Improve Soil Health 1. Increase Organic Matter Inputs As organic matter such as manure and compost decays into humus, it improves soil structure and drainage, holds moisture, and provides nutrients to the soil. Plant Diverse Species A variety of plants means a range of benefits for your soil.

Negatively charged sites on clay and organic matter retain these positively charged plant nutrients. Nutrients on cation exchange sites are available to plants in the near term. The quantity of cation exchange sites in a given soil is termed cation exchange capacity CEC.

Organic matter: Organic matter is composed of living and once-living material e. The availability of nutrients to plants in the near to long term depends on the type of organic matter and the activity of soil organisms.

Decomposition is the breakdown of organic matter into simpler organic and inorganic compounds through processes carried out by soil organisms.

Mineralization is the release of plant-available forms of nutrients that occurs when soil organisms decompose organic matter. Soil minerals: Nutrients in the mineral component of soils become available to plants in the very long term.

The management goal for a healthy agricultural soil is to supply the nutrients needed for optimal plant growth in the right quantity and at the right time while minimizing nutrient losses to the surrounding environment. Nutrients in the soil can change forms through many different nutrient cycling processes.

A low spot in this field collected standing water during several weeks of rainy weather in early summer. While the soil was saturated, nitrogen was lost to the atmosphere through a process called denitrification, resulting in a patch of nitrogen-deficient, yellowish corn.

Soil organic matter is a storehouse of several plant nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.

Every 1 percentage point of organic matter in the top 6 inches of soil contains about 1, pounds of nitrogen, pounds of phosphorus, and pounds of sulfur per acre. However, most nutrients in organic matter are not directly available to plants.

To be used by plants, nutrients in organic matter must be converted to inorganic forms through decomposition and mineralization by soil organisms. Particulate soil organic matter was extracted from five different soils with varying degrees of tillage history.

Particulate organic matter such as this contains organic forms of nutrients that can be made available to plants through microbial decomposition processes. Vials to the left had increasing levels of tillage in the crop rotation, while vials to the right were from untilled soils under permanent grass sod and forest.

The vial in the center is from a continuous no-till field with annual crop rotation. Soil organisms form a food web that decomposes organic matter and releases nutrients in the process.

At the base of the food web are bacteria and fungi, which obtain energy by decomposing soil organic matter directly. Protozoa and some nematodes are organisms that graze on bacteria and fungi, releasing nitrogen that can then be utilized by plants.

Soil is home to a complex assemblage of organisms that interact to significantly impact both aboveground and belowground processes Hooper et al.

The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. Soil-dwelling organisms play key roles in soil function, providing the foundation for such critical processes as soil structure development, decomposition and nutrient cycling, bioremediation, and promotion of plant health and diversity Coleman et al.

Soil organic matter is the base resource that supplies energy and nutrients used by plants and other organisms. Soil organic matter includes all the organic substances in or on the soil, including plant- and animal-derived material, in various stages of decay.

Larger organisms—for example, small arthropods—some barely visible to the unaided eye, help mediate the decomposition of plant and other organic residues. Some common insects and related organisms that play an active role in decomposition in agricultural systems are millipedes, springtails, mites, fly larvae, and burying beetles.

In addition to helping break down organic matter, decomposers are often eaten by other arthropods e. Nematodes and mites are visible in a soil pore. Reductions in soil disturbance help maintain soil as a habitat for beneficial soil organisms by conserving existing pores and channels where these microscopic organisms live.

Nitrogen N is a nutrient that can undergo many transformations in the soil through microbial processes. A specific group of bacteria convert ammonium to nitrate NO 3 - in a process called nitrification. Nitrogen fixation is carried out by both free-living and root-symbiotic organisms.

Nitrogen fixation is the conversion of atmospheric N 2 to ammonia NH 3 and is one of the most important ways that nitrogen is added to the soil ecosystem. In symbiotic nitrogen fixation, nitrogen is fixed by bacteria within nodules of the roots of plants in the legume family and ammonia is then taken up by the plant to be turned into an organic form of nitrogen.

In addition to serving as a source of stored nutrients, soil organic matter provides a significant portion of the cation exchange capacity CEC in soil. Cation exchange helps to hold positively charged nutrients in the soil, protecting them against loss through leaching.

Increasing the organic matter content of soil is one of the few ways to increase soil CEC. A pH of 7 is considered neutral, below 7 is acidic, and above 7 is alkaline. Most crops do best in the soil pH range of 6—7, though there are some exceptions. As soil pH drops below 6, aluminum in the soil changes form and becomes toxic to plant roots.

Manganese can also increase to toxic levels at a low soil pH. Humid regions of the world have soils that will naturally tend toward the acidic, so liming agents that neutralize acidity must be applied to keep soil at an optimum pH. Soil pH regulates the availability of several micronutrients, with iron, manganese, and zinc becoming more available as pH becomes more acidic.

Molybdenum availability increases as pH becomes more alkaline. Crops that prefer a pH outside the general range of 6—7 often do so because of specific micronutrient needs. Legumes, which require molybdenum for the nitrogen-fixing enzyme, favor a soil pH near 7.

Blueberries, which have a high iron requirement, favor a pH from 4. Soil organisms are affected by soil pH as well. Earthworms and bacteria prefer a near-neutral soil pH.

Fungi do well at most soil pH levels, so in acidic soils, fungi tend to dominate the soil microbial community. Soil pH also influences the cation exchange capacity supplied by organic matter. As soil pH increases, the cation exchange sites on soil organic matter will also increase.

One ecosystem service provided by soil organisms that is of particular interest in agricultural systems is biological control of arthropod pests. Biological control is the term for reduction of pest organisms by natural enemies, which include predators, parasites, and pathogens disease-causing organisms.

Healthy agricultural soil communities typically include a wide range of predators, parasites, and pathogens that contribute to the suppression of agricultural pests. Spiders, harvestmen, and ground carabid beetles are important ground-dwelling natural enemies of insect pests.

Ground beetles play a major role in agroecosystems by contributing to the mortality of insects, weed seeds, and slugs. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are beneficial soil organisms that contribute to many aspects of soil health. Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic association with plant roots.

Symbiosis is a close association between different species. This association provides the fungus with relatively constant and direct access to sugars supplied by the plant.

In return, the plant benefits from the ability of the fungus to grow out into the soil, creating a threadlike network of fungal biomass known as hyphae or mycelium, thus effectively increasing root volume. Mycorrhizal fungi are dependent on the host plant for an energy source and cannot survive for long periods of time without a plant host.

Approximately 80 percent of land plants form the symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. A few notable crops and weeds that are nonmycorrhizal include brassicas broccoli, cabbage, radish, canola, etc.

and chenopods spinach, chard, lambsquarters, etc. Mycorrhizal fungi are especially effective in helping plants acquire phosphorus, a nutrient that is highly immobile in the soil. Because of the low mobility, when plant roots extract phosphorus from the soil, a phosphorus depletion zone develops around the root.

Mycorrhizal fungi act as an extension of the plant root system, acquiring phosphorus from nondepleted zones and transporting it to the root. The external hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi also improve soil aggregation by exuding a gluelike compound called glomalin.

Glomalin helps soil particles stick together in aggregates that resist erosion and maintain soil porosity. Mycorrhizal symbioses increase a plant's stress tolerance. The network of fungal hyphae around the roots can block infection of the plant roots by plant pathogens.

Mycorrhizal fungi can also suppress plant pathogens by enhancing plant nutrition, increasing root toughness, changing the chemical composition of the plant tissues, alleviating abiotic stress, and changing the microbial community on roots.

Several factors affect the populations of mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. Tillage disrupts the network of delicate fungal strands, reducing populations.

High levels of phosphorus in the soil also suppress mycorrhizal populations because plants are less likely to support the symbiosis. Finally, because mycorrhizal fungi are dependent on a host plant for an energy source, long periods without a host, such as occurs in bare fallow fields or when a nonhost crop is grown in the rotation, will cause populations to decline over time.

Most native soils have ample populations of living mycorrhizal fungi or dormant spores that will awaken when a host crop is grown. Inoculation of field soil with mycorrhizal fungi is therefore usually unnecessary.

The hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi are seen as dark blue, threadlike structures in the photo above. In the background is a corn root colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Most soil microorganisms are found near the plant roots in a region called the rhizosphere. There are 1,—2, times more microorganisms associated with plant roots in the rhizosphere compared to the soils beyond this zone.

Microbes are so abundant in rhizospheres due to the simple carbohydrates in root exudates that the plants produce, which microbes can use as food. Diverse plant species, like those found in rangelands or different cover crops planted in croplands, have diverse rooting depths, which support microbial diversity throughout the soil profile.

That is why the presence of living roots is essential for maintaining good soil health. Soil is one of the natural resources that supports human civilization. Without a productive and healthy soil, the prospect of producing enough food to feed an ever-increasing human population is impossible.

We have many degraded soils across the globe that are no longer productive and can only be regenerated to a fruitful state by applying soil health principles. This can have significant effects on global food security if not addressed.

In New Mexico, a major effect of soil degradation is the high rate of soil erosion by wind. Additionally, water erosion can become a problem during the monsoon period July—September due to high-intensity, short-duration rainfall that is typical for our region.

These high-intensity rainfall events can lead to ephemeral temporary or permanent gully formations in both range and farmlands Figure 6. However, while tillage in cropland may correct small ephemeral gullies, permanent gullies may form in rangelands if corrective action is not implemented.

Figure 6. A scoured field after a large rain event in photo by Houston McKensie. We are losing soil from crop and rangelands at a rate that exceeds the rate at which soil formation occurs.

Through wind and water erosion, we are losing not only soil mineral particles but also the more valuable soil organic matter. We are losing both the fertility and the water-holding capacity of the soil, thus degrading soil health. Another study in eastern New Mexico showed that cultivated soils in that region have lost nearly half of their soil organic matter that would have been otherwise stored in native grasslands Thapa et al.

While soil can be lost quickly through erosion, soil formation is a very slow process. It may take between to 10, years for an inch of soil to form, depending on the soil-forming processes that occur in a given region.

This slow rate of formation makes soil a finite resource if it is mismanaged since it is a slowly renewable natural resource. An unhealthy soil will be prone to loses by wind and water erosion. Therefore, developing and maintaining healthy soils is necessary to ensure long-term soil productivity and food security.

Another reason we should care about soil health is the environmental, economic, and public health consequences arising from degraded and unhealthy soils. For example, when dust storms develop, suspended sediments have been proven to be hazardous for road safety and constitute serious health issues for those with respiratory problems.

Also, sediments that are transported away by erosion often accumulate in places where they are not wanted, requiring extra costs to remove the deposited sediments Figures 7 and 8.

Poorly managed soils can also lead to the contamination of surface water and groundwater due to agrichemicals attached to the dust and soil. Figure 7. Dune formation from unprotected soil photo by Patrick Kircher. Figure 8.

Image from Google Earth over Roosevelt County showing soil deposition in the field after a major wind erosion event.

There is no direct method to judge the status of soil health. Just like human health, there is no single machine that can be used to assess whether a person is healthy or not. Such measurements may be quantitative or qualitative, or a combination of both.

As described earlier, soils include physical, chemical, and biological aspects. In order to develop the best measurements for estimating soil health, we must look at the three aspects and select specific measurements that relate to our intended use of the soil.

The best set of measurements that will allow us to judge the status of soil health is called the minimum data set Rezaei et al. The measurements that make up the minimum data set are called soil quality indicators or soil health indicators. The first step in soil health assessment is to identify suitable indicators measurements that will constitute the minimum data set.

Selecting the required minimum data set of soil health indicators is not an easy task. It is often based on years of experimentation and sample analyses for multiple soil measurements under different production systems in order to identify which measurements are most sensitive to changes in management practices.

The purpose of soil health assessment is to allow a farmer, rancher, or land manager to know in which direction the soil health is going—for better or for worse. When we know the direction of change, we can implement specific management practices to mitigate degradation if the soil is in poor shape or continue the current practices if the soil is improving.

Without knowing the directional changes in soil health, it is not possible to effectively plan and implement better management practices.

The choice of soil health indicators for assessment often varies with the intended use of the soil. For example, the set of soil measurements used to assess the soil for sustainable rangeland may be different from the measurements used for sustainable crop production.

Therefore, there are no universal soil health indicators that will function for all systems. Part of soil health assessment research is often focused on identifying different indicators that will best suit different agroecosystems.

Many soil health assessment protocols have been developed around the country, but it is important to realize that a soil health assessment protocol that was developed in one region may not be suitable for another. The best soil health assessment protocols for a given region are those that were developed specifically within the agroecosystems of that region.

For example, soil health assessment protocols developed in the humid, temperate region of Illinois may perform poorly in the arid and semi-arid agroecosystems of New Mexico; soil and crop management issues differ between both regions.

Table 1. Soil Measurements Identified for Quantitative Soil Health Assessment in Arid and Semi-arid Agroecosystems. Within New Mexico, soil and cropping system scientists have been working for several years to identify relevant soil health indicators suitable for production agriculture in the region, some of which are listed in Table 1.

Some of these indicators include measurements that are taken directly in the field, while others are laboratory measurements performed on soil samples collected from the field. A more complete assessment of soil health requires the same laboratory assessments mentioned above.

Apart from the quantitative soil health assessment, there are also qualitative measures that can be used in the field to monitor the state of your soil health. All these measurements are rated in the field on a worksheet to help identify areas of soil constraints.

Based on the issues identified, the land manager can modify or select appropriate management practices to address the constraints. Figure 9. Presence of earthworms and biopores in soil as indicators of soil health photo by Rajan Ghimire. Qualitative approaches are useful for short-term management and educational purposes to help land managers understand the processes taking place in their soils.

However, for long-term soil health management, quantitative assessment protocols are necessary to precisely understand the direction and magnitude of soil change. As emphasized in previous sections, the purpose of a soil health assessment is to manage the soil for sustainable production and to achieve sustainable productivity of the soil.

Figure 10 illustrates several strategies that can be used. These strategies include:. Figure Management strategies that lead to soil health maintenance and improvement. Reduce soil disturbance: Intensive soil tillage is one of the greatest catalysts for soil degradation.

Although plow tillage systems are a longstanding practice for land preparation in many places, they are the most detrimental practice to soil health in both the long and short term. Breaking up the soil and intensively working it with tillage equipment can lead to many problems.

Tillage is highly destructive because it disrupts the habitats and populations of soil microorganisms that contribute significantly to maintaining and improving soil health.

One of the major problems that modern intensive tillage has caused is the rapid loss of the soil organic matter, which is the food for microbes and a binding agent for soil aggregates.

The more the soil is tilled, the higher the rate of organic matter oxidation organic matter loss in which soil organic carbon is converted to carbon dioxide and lost to the atmosphere.

Therefore, an intensively tilled soil will likely have poor soil health because of the low organic matter content. This is true for many of the arable soils in New Mexico. Using reduced tillage or conservation tillage methods will preserve and improve the soil organic matter over time and will be less disruptive for the soil microorganisms.

Many research studies are now showing that reduced tillage methods, such as strip tillage and no tillage, can produce similar crop yields as the conventional plow-till method in arid and semi-arid farmlands Darapuneni et al. This means that by transitioning to reduced tillage practices, crop producers can remain profitable in terms of yield and at the same time conserve and improve the soil health of their fields.

An added benefit to reduced tillage is fewer field passes for land preparation, leading to savings in fuel and tillage costs. Reducing tillage for crop production is not an easy task.

There are multiple challenges that farmers must overcome before achieving effective reduced tillage benefits. However, with proper information and guidance, it is possible to engage in successful conservation tillage practices in arid and semi-arid cropping systems.

Reducing soil disturbance is important in rangelands for the same reasons. Soil disturbance in rangeland systems typically comes from practices such as intense livestock overgrazing, undergrazing, mechanical treatments like roller chopping and chaining, rangeland seeding using conventional seeders versus minimum-till seeders, and subsoil plowing.

Crop rotation practices: Crop rotation is a method of farming in which farmers grow crops from different plant families in a well-planned sequence over multiple seasons in the same field.

For example, a farmer may grow alfalfa for three years, after which chile peppers are grown for two years and then cotton for another two years before growing alfalfa again. In this case, the farmer has a seven-year rotation cycle. These three crops—alfalfa, chile, and cotton—belong to different crop families.

Cover crops also count within any rotation cycle. The key factor in rotation is that a variety of crops belonging to different families are being grown in the same soil. There are several benefits crop rotation can bring to any farming system. An important benefit of crop rotation is the ability to break the disease cycle in a given field.

Growing the same crop continuously in the same soil often leads to the buildup of disease-causing organisms called pathogens.

If rotations are not practiced, these pathogens can multiply in the soil and exceed the threshold population for causing plant diseases. When rotations are practiced by growing a plant belonging to another family, the pathogen cycle becomes disrupted because the new crop belonging to a different family cannot serve as a host for the pathogen.

Therefore, the pathogen population will be reduced rapidly in the soil. Also, by growing different crops the microbial population and diversity in the soil are enhanced Vukicevich et al. There are different microbes that associate with different plant roots Berendsen et al. The greater the diversity of crops you grow on your land, the greater the diversity of soil microbiomes you will have, resulting in better soil health.

Cover cropping practices: Cover crops are plants that are grown in between cash crop cycles to protect the land from erosion and to add root exudates and biomass for soil improvement.

Cover crop biomass must be returned to the soil after the desired growing period for the soil health benefit to be fully realized.

If the cover crop is harvested off the field as a forage crop, the soil health improvement derived from the cover crop may be undetectable.

Soils of the arid and semi-arid Southwest have very low organic matter contents; therefore, growing a cover crop is one way to increase the soil organic matter through the addition of biomass to the soil. Some cover crops deliver other benefits to the soil. For example, legumes have the capacity to fix nitrogen in the soil by associating with a type of bacteria called rhizobium.

Rhizobium can convert atmospheric nitrogen to plant-useable nitrogen. When leguminous cover crops are worked into the soil, the nitrogen that was fixed and translocated into the plant is made available for the subsequent crop after residue decomposition.

This means that the external nitrogen demand of the cash crop following the legume cover crop will be reduced. pdf , explain this process. A crop family that can be used to control soil-borne diseases is the brassica mustard family.

Plants in the brassica family contain compounds called glucosinolates that can suppress soil-borne pests, such as disease pathogens, parasitic nematodes, and weed seed germination Sarwar et al.

Diversify production systems: Introducing diversity into your production system will allow you to build a healthy soil. Diversifying your production system can be done in different ways.

The key factor is to intentionally increase biodiversity on the farm or range either by increasing the number of crop species planted or by integrating livestock into the cropping system. Diversified farming systems include practices such as mixed varieties and mixed cropping, integrating livestock into crop production, cover cropping, crop rotation, fallowing fields, hedgerows, buffer strips, and many other practices Kremen et al.

All these practices introduce new species into the farming system that can improve soil health and support agricultural biodiversity.

Other benefits of diversified farming systems include improvements in nutrient cycling, soil water management, pest control, and habitats for pollinators. A study conducted in eastern New Mexico, in which animal grazing was integrated into crop production systems, led to improvement in soil health through increases in microbial community size, soil organic matter, and total nitrogen compared to conventional cropland Ghimire et al.

Apart from the soil health improvement, diversifying crop production on a farm can help minimize losses since production risks are spread across different commodities that the farm produces. Add soil organic amendments: Organic amendments are any material of plant or animal origin that can be added to the soil to improve soil conditions and stimulate biodiversity.

Examples of amendments include manure, compost, biochar, and similar materials. Long-term research studies have shown that regular addition of organic amendments to the soil can improve soil fertility, soil biological functions, and soil physical characteristics Diacono and Montemurro, Adding organic amendments is useful in arid and semi-arid agricultural systems due to the scarcity of vegetation materials that replenish soil organic matter.

In most cases, farmers apply organic amendments to supplement crop nutrition on the farm. An additional benefit of adding these amendments is increased microbial activity. Increased microbial activity after soil amendment application breaks down organic materials and releases nutrients.

While growers are encouraged to use organic amendments, the availability of amendments may limit the possibility of using this method for soil health improvement.

For example, in order to use dairy manure, the farmer must be able to afford the cost of transporting manure from a dairy to the intended field. If the distance to the source of manure is too far away from the farm, then using manure may not be economically feasible for the farmer.

Another limitation to using organic amendments is the cost of procuring them. If materials have been produced by a third party, such as biochar or compost, they must be purchased. Such organic amendments are often too expensive for farmers unless used in small plots like backyard gardens.

Such small soil areas are even more prone to over-application of amendments. Costs can go higher if the amendments must be shipped from far away.

When organic amendments are nearby and affordable, they provide an excellent way to improve soil health. However, soil managers must be careful about using some amendments. For example, some manures may have very high salt content. If they are applied at very high rates, they can cause salinity issues in the soil and adversely affect the crops in the field.

This reinforces the need for a laboratory analysis of the organic amendment you want to use, especially if they are coming from other places or you are purchasing them.

Alternatively, you can ask the vendor to provide product analysis results. For more help in choosing appropriate organic amendments or interpreting the amendment test results, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service office.

Rangelands in New Mexico are characterized as being extensively managed systems rather than intensively managed systems like croplands or irrigated pasture land. Extensively managed rangeland systems use small inputs of labor, infrastructure, and capital relative to the amount of land used.

It is therefore not practical to consider most of these amendments in New Mexico rangelands because the economic and ecological returns will be minimal. In some situations, amendments that drastically change soil chemistry can have negative effects because they favor weedy species that outcompete desirable native species that have evolved to thrive in low-nutrient environments.

Just as in croplands, amendments may have unintended consequences in rangelands. Therefore, as a rule, it is essential to know the properties of any amendment that is applied to the soil.

Integrate livestock into cropping systems: Livestock are a big part of agriculture in New Mexico. In crop-range-livestock integrated systems, cattle, goats, and sheep are often used to graze crop residues and stubble during the winter season, while crops are grown from spring through the fall.

There are basically five or six conservation practices or activities that farmers can leverage to develop a soil health management system. These include:. The science has proven that a well-executed soil health management system is key to a more sustainable future for agriculture and the planet.

The benefits are numerous and the on-farm economics in the long-term make it a viable practice to pursue:. While improvements can be made by introducing one activity at a time, to truly see changes requires a synergistic approach.

It may take three to five years for a producer to notice a measurable benefit through adopting soil health management systems, but the proven results should convince a producer to stay with implementing the system. Skip to content What are the Four Steps to Healthier Soils? The four soil health principles are: Minimize soil disturbance — soil disturbance is any activity that impacts or destroys habitat for soil microbes.

It can be broken into three categories: physical disturbance tillage destroys the house microbes live in ; chemical disturbance that impacts non-targeted organisms disrupting the soil food web, making them less resilient; and biological disturbance which includes the lack of diversity in crop rotations or overgrazing in grazing systems.

Maximizing diversity — helps to create a balanced habitat for soil organisms, breaks pest and disease cycles, and provides diverse biomass both above and below ground that can be converted into soil organic matter.

Diversity can be added by lengthening the crop rotation or adding perennials, planting cover crops after harvest, and incorporate livestock grazing through a strategy that ensures even distribution of manure while preventing overgrazing.

Keep continuous living roots growing as much as possible — modern agricultural systems only capture solar energy for a portion of the year days , while sunlight hits the earth year-round. Incorporating cover crops allows for plants to turn sunlight into food for soil microbes in the portions of the year commodity crops are not being grown.