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.

Featured Resource:

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.

See also: Harold van Es: ‘Building Soils’ yields multiple benefits