Soil Health

Soil health is critical to the sustainability and profitability of all farms and ranches. This tutorial will give producers the tools they need to assess their soil health, understand the principles behind soil health management, and learn practices they can use to return soils to a healthy state. There are five principles to sustainable soil management that will be discussed throughout these lessons: keeping the soil covered, maintaining living roots, including a diversity of plants, limiting soil disturbance, and including livestock where possible. If farmers are able to model their operations on the soil-forming processes seen in the natural environment, their soils can be regenerated and remain rich, productive, and resilient for generations. This tutorial will give farmers the tools needed to understand how to invest in their soils wisely.