Featured

New York Soil Health Initiative

• New York State’s central hub for soil health-related networking, research, education, and outreach. Visit website.
• Organic No-Till Soybean Guide
• Soil Health Characterization of NYS Reports
• New York Soil Health Roadmap
• New York Soil Health Summit

Cornell Soil Health Lab

• The Cornell Soil Health Laboratory is the home of the Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health (CASH). Visit website to learn more about testing services.
• Soil Health Fact Sheets

Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab

• Located at Cornell University, the Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab conducts research on cover crop interseeding, perennial grains, forage intercropping, and more. Visit website.

Cover Crop Guide for New York Vegetable Growers

• This online tool will help you quickly narrow the choices of cover crop for your situation. Visit website.
• Northeast Cover Crops Council Decision Tools Home. Farmers, Professionals, and Academics from across the Northeast have collaborated to produce excellent cover crop decision support tools.

Reduced Tillage in Vegetables Project

• The Reduced Tillage in Vegetables Project is led by the Small Farms Program at Cornell University.

Adaptive Nitrogen Management and the Adapt-N Tool

• The Cornell website about Adapt-N. Yara International acquired Adapt-N in 2017.

Healthy Soils, Healthy Communities

• The Healthy Soils, Healthy Communities project is a research and education partnership with New York’s urban gardeners.

Cornell Waste Management Institute

• Visit website. Slightly dated, but contains great waste management resources.

Climate Smart Farming Program

• The Climate Smart Farming website offers a number of climate tools for farmers in the Northeast.

Videos

• NY Soil Health video collection

Economic Case Studies & Tools

These economic case studies document adoption of soil health management practices.

USDA-SARE Resources

Explore SARE’s Learning Center to find out more about soil health and other sustainable practices. Check out these excellent books on sustainable soil management (free downloads):

• Building Soils for Better Crops – A practical guide to ecological soil management that 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.
• Managing Cover Crops Profitably – Explores how and why cover crops work, and provides all the information needed to build cover crops into any farming operation.
• Crop Rotation on Organic Farms – In-depth review of the applications of crop rotation-including improving soil quality and health, and managing pests, diseases, and weeds.
• Steel in the Field – A Farmer’s Guide to Weed Management Tools

Publications

Journal articles:

• Predicting measures of soil health using the microbiome and supervised machine learning. (2022)
• Cropping system and soil texture shape soil health outcomes and scoring functions. (2021)
• The soil health assessment protocol and evaluation applied to soil organic carbon. (2021) – SHAPE scoring function for SOC.
• Soil health changes from grassland to row crops conversion on natric aridisols in South Dakota, USA. (2021)
• Anthropogenic and inherent effects on soil organic carbon across the US. (2020)
• No-till and cropping system diversification improve soil health and crop yield. (2018)
• Quantitative soil profile-scale assessment of the sustainability of long-term maize residue and tillage management. (2017)
• Statistics, Scoring Functions, and Regional Analysis of a Comprehensive Soil Health Database. (2017)
• Selected Soil Health Journal References

• Rolled–crimped cereal rye residue suppresses white mold in no-till soybean and dry bean. (2020)
• Trade-offs in cereal rye management strategies prior to organically managed soybean. (2018)
• Evaluation of cover crops drill interseeded into corn (Zea mays L.) across the mid-Atlantic region. (2018)
• Cover Crop Species and Cultivars for Drill-Interseeding in Mid-Atlantic Corn and Soybean. (2018)
• Compost and Geneva® series rootstocks increase young ‘Gala’ apple tree growth and change root-zone microbial communities. (2019)
• Integrated weed management strategies in cover crop-based, organic rotational no-till corn and soybean in the mid-Atlantic region. (2017)
• Corn density effect on interseeded cover crops, weeds, and grain yield. (2017)
• Advancing Intercropping Research and Practices in Industrialized Agricultural Landscapes. (2017)
• Managing for multifunctionality in perennial grain crops. (2017)

Extension Publications

• Aller, D., K. Shahinian, J. Amsili, H. van Es. 2021. Characterization of Soil Health in Suffolk County, Long Island. Agricultural News. April 2021.
• Amsili, J., H.M. van Es, R. Schindelbeck, K. Kurtz, and D. Wolfe. 2020. Soil health in New York State: Establishing aspirational goals and soil organic carbon sequestration opportunities. What’s Cropping Up? 30(4). https://blogs.cornell.edu/whatscroppingup/2020/10/21
• Amsili, J., H.M. van Es, R. Schindelbeck, K. Kurtz, D. Wolfe, and G. Barshad. 2020. Soil health in New York State: Effects of soil texture and cropping system. What’s Cropping Up? 30(4). https://blogs.cornell.edu/whatscroppingup/2020/10/16
• Amsili, J., A. Ristow, M. Nunes, H.M. van Es, R. Schindelbeck, and M. Davis. 2019. Adapt-N tool leads to reduced nitrate leaching compared to Corn N Calculator. What’s Cropping Up? 28: 81-83. http://blogs.cornell.edu/whatscroppingup/2018/12/03
• Mason C and D Wolfe. Nov 1, 2018. Survey of vegetable growers and other farmers in New York reveals costs and benefits of soil health practices. VegEdge Newsletter 14(24): 8-9. Cornell University. Ithaca, New York. https://cvp.cce.cornell.edu/newsletter.php.
• Mason C and D Wolfe. Nov/Dec 2018. Survey of farmers in New York reveals challenges and opportunities in soil health. What’s Cropping Up? 28(5): 79-89. https://blogs.cornell.edu/whatscroppingup/2018/10/18
• Schindelbeck, R., A. Ristow, M. Ryan and H. van Es. 2017. Reduced tillage and cover crops have additive effect for improving soil health. What’s Cropping Up? 27: 37-38. http://blogs.cornell.edu/whatscroppingup/2017/06/07

Organizations focused on soil health

Government

• New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM)
• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)
• USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
• USDA-Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NE SARE)

Farmer Organizations

• Northeast Organic Farming Association, New York chapter (NOFA-NY)
• Western New York Soil Health Alliance

Other Non-profits

• American Farmland Trust (AFT)
• 4R Nutrient Stewardship Program
• New York Farm Bureau (NYFB)
• New York Soil Health (NYSH)
• New York State Soil Health Workgroup (NYSSHWG) (no website)
• New York Farm Viability Institute (NYFVI)
• Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (Soil Health)
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
• Watershed Coalitions

Higher-ed & Research

New York Higher Education and Research Institutions New York has many higher education and research institutions which are an important resource for soil health programming now and in the future. Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is the state’s land grant university and has played a soil health leadership role at the state, national, and international levels since the 1990’s.

Cornell currently provides leadership for the statewide New York Soil Health stakeholder collaboration, and has also coordinated the New York Soil Health Roadmap effort. In addition to Cornell, other universities within the state have faculty with interest and expertise relevant to soil health research, outreach, and/or policy, and educational programs in agricultural or environmental science or other relevant disciplines. This would include SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Morrisville, SUNY Binghamton, Columbia University, the Cary Institute, and others.

Regional & National

• California Healthy Soils Initiative
• Maryland Cover Crops Program and Healthy Soil Biomass Pilot Program
• Northeast Cover Crops Council (NECCC)
• Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)
• Soil Health Institute
• Soil Health Partnership
• US Climate Alliance