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Jan 24, 2023 · Soil health is the foundation of productive farming practices. Fertile soil provides essential nutrients to plants. Important physical characteristics of soil structure and aggregation allow water and air to infiltrate, and roots to explore. Soil health and soil quality are terms used interchangeably to describe soils that are not only fertile ...
Aug 3, 2023 · A healthy soil tends to have a few things: Good structure: A healthy soil has a crumbly texture with a good balance of air, water, and pore space. This allows water, nutrients, air, plant roots and microorganisms to move through it. Nutrient content: A healthy soil contains the right balance of nutrients essential for plant growth.
Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Healthy soil gives us clean air and water, bountiful crops and forests, productive grazing lands, diverse wildlife, and beautiful landscapes. Soil does all this by performing five essential functions:
The most widely cited definition is that by Doran et al. (1996) – soil health/quality is the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystems and land-use boundaries to sustain: (i) biological productivity, (ii) environmental quality, and (iii) plant and animal (including human) health.
- Laura L. Van Eerd, Kate A. Congreves, Melissa M. Arcand, Yvonne Lawley, Caroline Halde
- 2021
Soil filters the water we drink, grows the food we eat, and captures the carbon dioxide that causes climate change. Soil is the largest carbon sink after the ocean and holds more carbon than all ...
- Jon Heggie
- 2 min
Soil health is an assessment of how well soil performs all of its functions now and how those functions are being preserved for future use. Soil health cannot be determined by measuring only crop yield, water quality, or any other single outcome. Soil health cannot be measured directly, so we evaluate indicators.
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Jan 7, 2022 · Visual inspection of a soil to gauge soil aggregates, crop root penetration, among other characteristics is one of many ways soil health can be assessed. Soil health broadly refers to the quality of a soil in terms of chemical, physical, and biological characteristics. It includes conventional soil fertility considerations and adds to it a more ...
