How Do You Assess Soil Health?

By: Soil Health Institute

The initial methods cooperating scientists will use to assess soil health indicators has been released.

According to Dr. Steven Shafer, Chief Scientific Officer of SHI, the lack of widely-applicable measurements and methods for assessing soil health are significant barriers to adopting soil health practices and systems.

“Something you often hear scientists and managers say is, ‘You cannot manage what you cannot measure.’ In soil health, knowing how to measure is as important as what to measure. If we are to determine where our soils can be considered healthy or unhealthy, or whether they are getting better or worse, we have to decide which properties we should measure and how to do that with the greatest accuracy. We will be testing soil health indicators using methods recommended by some of the best experts in the country in places where we have detailed records on agricultural production, land management practices, and environmental conditions,” Shafer explained. “And that will tell us whether the indicators will provide the scientific support necessary for farmers, natural resource managers, agribusinesses, policy makers, and others who want to use soil health-promoting practices to make soil health the cornerstone for managing our soil, water, and air resources.”