Soil is instrumental in agricultural systems, enhances environmental and climate resilience, and supports biodiversity. Healthy soil regulates water, supports plant roots, and helps filter pollutants. Its overall importance has led to greater efforts to support soil health and reduce negative environmental impacts including erosion, compaction, and pollution.

“Soil health is crucial because it’s the baseline of our agricultural systems,” Amelia Magistrali, UConn Extension’s associate educator in soil health, says. “On a global scale, we are facing soil loss and degradation at catastrophic levels, it’s been a wakeup call, and the agricultural community is working on protecting and retaining our soils. On a micro scale, in Connecticut, we have some really diverse soils, and management in individual systems can be really different.”

Soil health is the continued capacity of the soil to function by sustaining plants, animals, and humans through clean air and water, productive crops, forests and grazing lands, and diverse wildlife and landscapes. Managing soil health is important for cycling nutrients, regulating water, filtering pollutants, supporting biodiversity and providing physical stability for plant roots and human and livestock activities. As we experience increasing frequency and variability of intense rainfall events and drought conditions, the role of healthy soils in absorbing and retaining moisture cannot be overstated.

Magistrali’s extension program uses a systems approach to soil health because soil is related to all aspects of agricultural management. Six months into the role, there are some focus areas that have come to the fore, including managing soils and inputs in high organic matter systems and decision-making tools for cover cropping.

Magistrali is looking to fill information gaps related to Connecticut’s diverse soil systems in urban and rural contexts while also working with UConn Extension’s agricultural professionals to provide more soil health resources in existing programs.

“Climate change, resilience, and adaptation are also huge themes for farmers and growers as they relate to soil health,” Magistrali says. “UConn Extension is already working on climate smart and resilient farming, and we will have more emphasis on what it means for soil health and the management practices related to it. There’s also more research and technology increasingly available to farmers, like aerial imagery from drones and satellites and this will also impact how we can assess certain aspects of soil health.”

UConn Extension works with partners throughout the state, from the Department of Agriculture to the Natural Resource Conservation Service and Land Trusts. Magistrali’s role is working with various partners to build on the existing resources and information, and fill gaps for Connecticut residents and farmers.

“Managing for healthy soil, and the components that make healthy soil, will look different based on where you are, the soil type, and the goals you have,” says Magistrali. “There is a combination of strategies that will look different for everyone. It’s important for people to know their goals before they start the process, as this will determine some of the strategies.”

There are steps that everyone can take to support soil health, from gardeners to agricultural producers. Magistrali recommends starting with a soil test. This service is available through the UConn Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory. She adds that UConn’s tests show which key nutrients are below or exceeding their optimum and that once there is a baseline and understanding of how different management (e.g. fertilizers, mulch etc.) affects soil nutrients, most people won’t need to test their soil as regularly, if everything is growing well. Watch for issues that can’t be explained; if plants fail to thrive or have other issues, test the soil again. Keep an eye out for water runoff, ponding, or excessively dry soil—you don’t need a soil test to see that there’s an issue with how the soil structure is managing water if you notice these types of issues.

“Soil health can be overwhelming because there are so many different practices and activities that impact our soils,” says Magistrali. “It’s important to focus on areas of interest or access. Someone who is interested in composting, for example, can focus on recycling nutrients through composting and using it as an effective soil amendment can build up organic matter.  There are lots of things that relate to our soils, don’t be afraid to ask questions, keep learning, and start with small things that you can do to support our soil systems.”