In collaboration with stakeholders, this project has developed a set of cost-effective protocols and user-friendly reports for assessing the health status of soil, demonstrating practical solutions to major soil-quality constraints in New York, and providing a comprehensive soil-health educational-outreach program for New York state and the Northeast region.

The intensive production of vegetables in New York has contributed to the increase in soil compaction and pest and disease problems and led to a reduction in soil organic matter and other soil-quality factors. Vegetable growers in New York state and the Northeast region are aware of the losses in crop productivity and farm profitability associated with this gradual deterioration in soil health and quality, a downward spiral that cannot be remedied by increasing farm inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. The latter has resulted in an increased awareness and interest in the implementation of sustainable soil-management practices for improving soil health and productivity, thus the profitability of vegetable production. To address these issues, a group of interested growers, extension educators, and researchers submitted a petition to the Cornell Cooperative Extension to establish a Soil Health Program Work Team, which was approved on July 1, 2001.
The evolving concept of soil health deals with soil holistically. It attempts to integrate and optimize the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil for improved productivity in a sustainable, economical, and environmentally compatible manner. The new breakthroughs in our understanding of soil biology make it possible to include and/or substitute new biological approaches with traditional ones that have primarily focused on the physical and chemical aspects of soil management. Growers and other land managers are requesting assistance in assessing the soil-health status of their soils as well as asking for guidelines to implement practical alternative soil-management practices. Recently, we have also started addressing soil constraints and needed soil management options in field and forage crops production as well as dairy farming issues relating to manure spreading.

To address these issues, the team mailed an extensive soil-health survey to 1,000 vegetable growers to gain an understanding about current soil-management practices, soil factors perceived as limiting vegetable production, and what information and technologies would be most useful. The soil qualities of concern that were most cited included soilborne insects, diseases, and weeds; soil compaction leading to ponding and excessive runoff; and low organic matter and water-holding capacity leading to drought-prone soils. In order to assess the impact of several soil-management practices on soil health and productivity, the team established 10 demonstration sites in the fields of collaborating growers and six replicated research sites. Extensive data has been collected from these sites as well from a large number of other vegetable soils in order to assess the overall health status of New York state vegetable soils and the impact of various management practices. This large data set has facilitated a more thorough interpretation of the soil health results and will enable the recommendation of appropriate management solutions. The team has developed a cost-effective set of protocols for assessing the health status of New York soils and it is anticipated that soil analysis using these protocols will be provided on a fee-for-service basis in 2007. The team has made great progress in increasing soil health literacy among growers, extension educators, research staff, students, consultants, and other interested personnel via numerous field days, in-service training, workshops, grower's meetings, and presentations at formal meetings in the region, nationally and internationally. In 2006, the team received additional funding from the NE-SARE program to expand the soil health research and outreach regionally in collaboraion with colleagues in vermont and Maryland.

Through our extensive outreach and training activities, we have increased general stakeholder knowledge about the emerging concept of soil health, as well as the soil-health assessment protocols and impact of management practices on soil health and quality. Many growers are implementing a number of promoted soil-health management practices such as reduced tillage, modified crop rotations, additional cover crops and mulches, and ecological pest management on an as-needed basis (soil IPM). A cost-effective set of soil-health assessment protocols were recently completed and will aid growers in assessing the health status of their soils and in determining needed management decisions. The implementation of a long-term soil-health management program on a whole-farm basis will improve soil productivity, increase farm profitability, and enhance environmental quality. With financial support from the NYFVI, we will be training growers and consultants in sampling for soil health analysis and will process the samples at subsidized rates.

Soil Health assessment and management

• NYS IPM Program
• FFF Initiative
• NNY Agricultural Development Program

• Harold van Es (CSS, CU)
• Dave Wolfe (Hort.- Ithaca, CU)
• Janice Thies (CSS, CU)
• Carol MacNeil (CCE, CU)
• Ted Blomgren (CCE, CU)
• Beth Gugino (Plant Path.-Geneva, CU)
• Curt Petzoldt (IPM, CU)
• Ray Weil (Natural Res. Sci, Univ. of Maryland)