New York Soil Health
New York State’s hub for soil health-related networking, research, education, and outreach Field DaysEventsNew York Soil Health for Healthy Food, Profitable Farms, and Protection of Natural Resources
Interest in soil health practices such as reducing tillage, planting cover crops, and using organic amendments has expanded greatly in recent years, yet barriers to adoption persist. Our project facilitates collaboration among the many ongoing efforts across the state to implement research, outreach, and policy solutions to address these barriers to adoption.
What is soil health?
Soil health refers to the ongoing ability of soil to function as a vital, living ecosystem that supports plants, animals, and people. As we work to restore degraded soils and track our progress, defining and measuring soil health has become increasingly important. We follow the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) definition, which emphasizes the soil’s role in sustaining life and ecological balance.
Featured Video
How to Test Soil Health
In this four-part video series, developed in collaboration between the New York Soil Health initiative and the Cornell Small Farms Program, you’ll see four simple yet powerful demonstrations that show both the profound impacts management decisions can have on soil health and how to test your soil’s health.
Project Members
Meet the project coordinators and collaborators
Featured Resource
Overview of biochar, resources, and information targeted towards ag applications for NYS producers.
Policy Briefs
Browse policy briefs that provide evidence-based recommendations.
Videos
A selection of videos covering soil health principles, soil health economics, cover crops, and more.
NY Soil Health News
Field crop field day draws big crowd
Nearly 200 farmers, educators, industry representatives, faculty, staff and students attended the 2025 Aurora Farm Field Day at Cornell’s Musgrave Research Farm in Aurora, N.Y. on July 24.
Cover Cropping for Soil Health: Field Day at FoodLink Community Farm
Community gardeners, educators, and agency partners gathered Sept. 16 at the FoodLink Community Farm in Rochester for a hands-on field day focused on cover cropping and urban soil health.
New Research Brief: Cover crop incentive programs & adoption trends in the Northeast
The New York Soil Health team has released a new research brief exploring how cover crop incentive programs influence farmer behavior and cover crop adoption in the Northeast.
Soil Health News
- National Biochar Survey 01/09/2025
- Recent Publications and Articles 01/05/2025
- Integrating Cover Crops for Weed Management 10/31/2024
Upcoming Events
Videos: 2022 New York Soil Health Summit
Join us on Social Media
Healthy soils = resilience and increased profits
Healthy soils = plant disease suppression
Healthy soils = improved water infiltration
Healthy soils = protection from erosion
Project Support
