Definition What is soil health?

USDA defines soil health as “the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” It relies on four Ms: maximize the presence of living roots, maximize soil cover, maximize biodiversity, and minimize soil disturbance. Healthy soils are expected to support multiple ecosystem services, including improving water and air quality, enhancing biodiversity, etc.

Soil Health is widely accepted terminology, but the concept, measurement, and operation are still evolving. Quantifying soil health is essential but can be challenging partially due to the soil’s inherent heterogeneity with diverse soil management practices across spatial and temporal scales. The procedure generally includes selecting context-specific soil physical, chemical, and biological properties (soil health indicators), quantifying the indicators, and integrating the individual measurements into an index that can be informative for management.