Soil Health: Opportunities for the Future.

Understanding and monitoring soil health of our nation’s agricultural lands represents a major paradigm shift, from viewing soil merely as a medium to support plant growth to a living, breathing ecosystem. Soil supports a myriad of life that when properly taken care of aids the production of food, feed, fiber, and fuel, while helping to reduce inputs. Those inputs include, but are not limited to, fuel, fertilizer and herbicides.  Currently many of our soils have been compromised, and restoring soil health will require people working together at the local level to identify the prevalent resource concerns finding solutions unique to each field or operation. The current status of our nation’s soils will be discussed as well as ways we are moving forward in efforts to improve the resource base.