What is Healthy Soil?
Content Notes
What is Healthy Soil
Inherent properties - soil characteristics that managers cannot change, such as soil type, texture, stoniness, depth to bedrock.
Dynamic properties – soil characteristics that a manager can influence, such as soil organic matter, tilth, structure, aggregation, nutrient availability.
Benefits of Healthy Soil
- Reduce off-farm inputs
- Boost yields
- Improve crop health
- Contribute to overall health of the local ecosystem
Congress passed public law 74-46 on April 27, 1935 establishing the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) which eventually became the NRCS in 1994.
"The wastage of soil and moisture resources on farms, grazing and forest lands… is a menace to the national welfare." – Public Law 74-46
Economic Benefits of Soil Health
- Reduced risk of yield loss during droughts and floods
- Better field access during wet periods
- Spend less on outside inputs
Building Soil Organic Matter
A simple rule of thumb – to increase health and functionality of your soil, increase your soil organic matter.
- Biological components of soil organic matter
- Raw materials (such as crop residues)
- Decomposing materials (such as aged crop residues or manure)
- Humus (the good stuff!)
Five Principles of Soil Health (a.k.a Principles of Regenerative Agriculture)
- Keep the soil covered
- Minimize soil disturbance
- Increase plant diversity
- Keep living roots in the soil year round
- Integrate livestock
The organic regulations require practices that promote and steward soil health.
7 CFR 205.2 “Organic production”: “A production system that is managed in accordance with the Act and regulations in this part to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.”
These images from research facilities in Nebraska and Wisconsin demonstrate the benefits of using cover crops, which fulfill a minimum of three soil health principles: keep the soil covered, increased plant diversity, and living roots in the soil year round.
University of Nebraska, May 11, 2016
University of Wisconsin