Soil Best Management Practices

Authors: Sarah Hirsh

Soil health is the status of soil in terms of its ability to function and sustain life. It involves physical, chemical, and biological factors that are all interrelated. Soil organisms are critical for building good soil structure, ensuring air and water movements through the soil, decomposing organic materials, and cycling nutrients. A soil with good physical structure and with sufficient nutrient cycling will encourage increased numbers and diversity of soil organisms. When we manage soil with practices that minimize disturbance, maximize soil cover, maximize biodiversity, and maximize the presence of living roots, we can increase soil health, increasing the sustainability and profitability of agriculture. Author: Sarah Hirsh; Title: Soil Health (FS-2025-0754).

Authors: Sarah Hirsh - Haley Sater - Dwayne Joseph

Cover crop planning according to cover crop purpose, cover crop window within cash crops, and realistic expectations can greatly increase the benefits that cover crops provide, making the overall farming system more productive, sustainable, and profitable. Author: Sarah Hirsh, Ph.D., Haley Sater, Ph.D, and Dwayne Joseph, Ph.D.; Title: Cover Crop Planning (FS-2024-0743).

Authors: Peter Ricciuti

The topsoil on your property is a valuable resource and the foundation for a healthy landscape. Loss of soil through erosion can mean trouble, not only for your landscape, but for local streams and rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. If you are losing soil from your property, there are several things you can do to stop it.