Practical Agronomic Considerations to Improve Soil Health and Crop Yields.

Conducting a soil health assessment has the potential to help farmers identify constraints to crop production and understand steps to take to improve cropping system efficiency.  Many soil labs are offering new soil health assessments to farmers to help them understand soil chemistry, biological and physical components of their soils.  However, many of the currently available soil health tests have troubles with repeatability, consistency and calibration.  Despite concerns with the new soil health assessments, soil health tests offer a means to start conversations with farmers about many aspects of their soils and improving operations through a cropping systems approach.