Reports Benchmark Soil Health in Texas

The Soil Health Institute released three regional reports and a webinar documenting the results of soil health benchmarking in the Northern Blackland Prairies, Gulf Coast Prairies, and Southern High Plains of Texas. In this benchmarking process, the Soil Health Institute compares minimally disturbed reference sites where soil health is optimal to two types of crop production systems in the same region: fields with typical baseline management and fields where growers use regenerative soil health practices such as no-till and cover crops. Scientists evaluated soils based on organic carbon concentration, aggregate stability, carbon mineralization potential, water-holding capacity, and organic carbon stock. They concluded that growers improved their soil health significantly by adopting management practices to reduce soil disturbance and maximize living roots, and that more farmers in the region could benefit by adopting such practices.