Soil Health Basics
Soil Health Basics
Conservation practices and planning are essential to ensure productive fields and a healthy environment.
Activities
Attachments
Conservation Planning Brochure
Improved Water Quality Video
Healthy soil will last for generations. Shorter term savings includes using no-till planting to reduce farm input costs and improve soil quality.
Activities
Attachments
An Economic Perspective on Soil Health
Reduced Tillage Video
Learning to identify healthy and unhealthy soils quickly can help farmers and gardeners improve and protect this important resource.
Activities
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Healthy Soils are Well-Structured
Look of Healthy Soil Video
Smell of Healthy Soil Video
Learning to identify healthy and unhealthy soils quickly can help farmers and gardeners improve and protect this important resource.
Activities
Attachments
Healthy Soils: High In Organic Matter
Healthy Soils Are: Covered All the Time
No-Tillage Impacts on Soil Carbon, Nitrogen and Water
Soil Water and Air Video
Benefits of Cover Crops
Soil is living, life-giving and necessary for life. Healthy soil is fundamental to a healthy agricultural system. A soil healthy management system makes farms and gardens more profitable, productive, and sustainable. Soil health management requires considering how every farming practice and decision might affect your soil.
Activities
Attachments
Healthy Soils Are Well-Structured
Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel and Appearance
Soil Stability Test
Soil Infiltration Test
Particle Size Analysis
Be careful to check for soil contaminants before you start. Urban garden sites may have previously housed industrial or commercial operations and could be contaminated, making any produce grown there dangerous to eat.
Activities
Attachments
EPA Reusing Protentially Contaminated Landscapes: Growing Gardens in Urban Soils
Quick Links
Soil Health Basics
Additional Resources
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North central Sustainable Agriculture Research And Education
Educator resources were developed with a grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-38640-2538 through the North Central Region SARE program under subaward number ENC16-152, PI: Natalie Carroll, Ph.D..
Dan DeSutter - Attica, Indiana
Dan DeSutter farms 4,500 acres in west central Indiana, using no-till, cover crops and manure to improve soil quality while maintaining high levels of crop production.
Jamie Scott - Pierceton, Indiana
Jamie Scott, of Pierceton, Ind., farms 2,000 acres as part of a family operation. All tillable acres are no-tilled or strip tilled and have had cover crops planted for the past seven years.
Purdue Extension
Purdue Extension is a service tailored to meet the needs of Indiana, needs we know firsthand. Our educators, specialists, and volunteers live and work in all 92 Indiana counties. Purdue Extension provides the link between Land Grant research and Indiana citizens.
North Central SARE
Some of the images found on this website were supplied from the SARE Photo Library and Educator resources were developed with a grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-38640-2538 through the North Central Region SARE program under subaward number ENC16-152, PI: Natalie Carroll, Ph.D..