Developing soil health indicators for improved soil management on farm

Publication date: 14/06/2021
Extent: 40 pages

Contributions by: Elizabeth Stockdale, NIAB, UK; Paul Hargreaves, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), UK; and Anne Bhogal, ADAS Gleadthorpe, UK

Chapter synopsis: Whilst there is a growing range of ways to measure individual soil physical chemical and biological properties, a particular concern of scientists, policy makers and farmers is the lack of robust, practical measures of soil health that can be used to describe the current state of soil, underpin decision-making and support better management on farms. This chapter describes the indicators and frameworks for soil health that are currently in use; evaluates the principles underpinning current approaches to monitoring soil quality/health in agricultural systems; and shows these principles have been applied in the development of a practical soil health toolkit for use by UK farmers in measuring soil health on their farms.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2020.0079.22