Cornell Soil Health Program – Teaching, research, and outreach to protect and improve soils planet-wide

Advancing the frontiers of soil health research, education and outreach at Cornell

The program focuses its activities in New York State, but also includes national and international projects.

In the early 2000’s, a group of interested growers, extension educators, researchers, and private consultants got together to establish a soil health program and rolled out a first version of the Cornell soil health test in 2006. Over the years, the Cornell team has worked to refine the Cornell soil health assessment and management framework into its current form.

Since 2006, Cornell Soil Health Program has been at the forefront of research efforts to advance a standardized and comprehensive assessment of soil health at state, national, and international levels. Notable research contributions fit into three broad categories, assessing the effects of management on soil health, developing and comparing methodologies for testing biological and physical soil health indicators, and creating novel scoring functions to interpret soil health indicators. Throughout this time, we’ve developed numerous educational resources and conducted countless outreach events all over the world.

Home of the Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health (CASH)

The Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health, commonly known as the Cornell Soil Health Test, is designed for farmers, gardeners, agricultural service providers, landscape managers and researchers who want to go beyond simply testing the nutrient levels of their soils. Our lab was the first to offer a commercial soil health test that provides standardized information on important soil biological and physical constraints in addition to standard nutrient analyses.

We have conducted over 10,000 soil health package analyses since rollout of the CASH assessment in 2006, half for commercial customers. In addition to providing laboratory results for each sample, we have developed a soil health management planning framework that we include with our analysis report to help you focus soil-improvement management changes where they will be most effective.

Find details of the CASH assessment’s indicators and management strategies for improving soil health in the Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health Training Manual, available free online. We also offer fact sheets about our lab’s specific tests and procedures.

Featured Resources:

Building Soils for Better Crops: Ecological Management for Healthy Soils – One-of-a-kind, practical guide to ecological soil management. Provides step-by-step information on soil-improving practices as well as in-depth background — from what soil is to the importance of organic matter. Hot off the press, 4th edition includes new chapter focusing on urban soils and improving soil health for landscape plantings. Hard copy and free download available.