Home

soil sampling, hyphae, incorporation, mulch, cover crops

Soil Health is…

  • Holistic. Soil health considers chemical, physical, and biological properties, which are interrelated and equally important.
  • Feeding the soil, not the plant. Sustainable agricultural practices harness biological processes to maintain and improve soil health for multiple seasons.
  • Good Stewardship. Healthy soils perform essential ecosystem services – some of which we are only beginning to understand.
  • Cost-Effective. Long term improvements in water management, nutrient cycles, and soil food webs can minimize inputs and maximize productivity.

About This Site

Soil health is a critical impact for many areas of agronomy, horticulture, and natural resources, with ties to entomology, plant pathology, engineering, chemistry, and many other disciplines. This site focuses primarily on soils as a growing medium.

This site is currently under construction. It will be organized into the following categories.

  • Soil Health Assessment - quantifying and measuring soil health in the field and laboratory 
  • Soil Health Management - fostering soil health through holistic soil and crop management 
  • Soil Health Resources - additional literature and tools 
  • On-Farm Research - highlights of recent and on-going soil health research in Ohio

 

News

  1. a hand crumbling field soils

    2024 Soil Health Webinar Series

    Dec 19, 2023

    Join us for a webinar series focusing on all things soil health. This series will offer stand-alone topics, so attendees can attend one, two, or all three sessions. Live webinars will offer CCA continuing education credits, and webinar recordings will be posted to the OSU Agronomy Team YouTube Channel for later viewing. In this monthly series, farmers, industry, and academic experts will weigh in on practical steps to improve soil health and measure impact on crop yield and farm profitability.

  2. Soil Health 2023 Webinar Series

    Soil Health 2023 Webinar Series

    Dec 19, 2022

    The Agronomic Crops Team Soil Health Webinar Series returns this winter, with monthly sessions, beginning January 5 and continuing with a bonus March 30th presentation. 

  3. OSU Extension Soil Health Tour 2022

    Sep 15, 2022

    The 2022 OSU Extension Soil Health Tour includes 18 in-person tour stops and 6 virtual tour stops. The flyer has descriptions for each site, provided by the farmers who manage those locations. The tour will open Monday, September 19th at 8AM and close Wednesday, September 28th at 5PM. Virtual tour stops will be accessible during that timeframe as well.