Soil Health: Practical Strategies for Long-Term Agricultural Success

As an agronomist, I’ve had countless conversations about soil health. It’s a term that means slightly different things to different people. At its core, soil health boils down to the chemical, physical, and biological factors that work together to create a soil environment capable of supporting long-term agricultural productivity and economic sustainability. In recent years, the biological aspect of soil health has taken center stage, offering exciting opportunities for farmers to enhance crop yields while maintaining soil resilience. Let’s dive into practical strategies for understanding and improving soil health in your fields.

Generally, healthy soil thrives when you follow a few key principles of soil health:

• Rotating your crops (Plant Diversity) helps maintain microbial diversity and enhances nutrient uptake. Other positive outcomes from crop rotation include minimizing pest pressure and residue management.
• Reducing tillage (Minimal Disturbance) protects the soil’s structure and preserves microbial habitats.
• Keeping living roots in the ground as much as possible (Living Roots) feeds beneficial microbes.
• Covering your soil year-round with plants or crop residue (Maximize Soil Cover) reduces erosion and retains moisture.
• When feasible, incorporating livestock grazing (Integrate Livestock) recycles nutrients and boosts soil organic matter.

These practices create an environment where microbes flourish, promoting efficient nutrient cycling and healthier crops.

The Role of Biology in Soil Health

The fact is, the soil beneath your feet is more than just dirt—it’s a living, thriving ecosystem teeming with microorganisms vital for nutrient cycling and plant health. In recent years, the biological aspect of soil health has become a major focus for farmers and the crop input industry, with three key approaches driving innovation and improvement.

1. Measuring Soil Microbiology

Advanced tools like DNA profiling have revolutionized our understanding of soil biology. These technologies provide detailed insights into:

• The balance between bacteria and fungi, which is essential for nutrient cycling and soil stability.
• The specific functions of microbes, such as fixing atmospheric nitrogen, solubilizing phosphorus, combating pathogens, and mineralizing organic nitrogen.

By analyzing the microbial composition and function, farmers can pinpoint where their soils may need biological enhancements. For example, identifying a lack of nitrogen-fixing bacteria or phosphorus-solubilizing microbes can guide targeted interventions to restore balance and improve soil productivity.

2. Using Biostimulants to Improve Microbial Activity

Another approach to boosting biological soil health involves the application of microbial biostimulants—commonly referred to as “biologicals.” These products work by:

• Introducing task-specific microbes that are particularly effective at processes like nitrogen fixation or pathogen suppression.
• Stimulating microbial populations through concentrated applications of beneficial microbes.

By supplementing the soil with resilient, high-performing microbes, biostimulants help enhance nutrient availability and support crop growth, even in challenging conditions.

3. Enhancing Soil Biology Without Microbes

Not all solutions rely on live microbial inputs. Products like BIOZ® Diamond provide carbon-rich amendments, such as molasses, to serve as food for existing soil microbes. This approach is particularly effective in:

• Soils with low organic matter.
• Cool temperatures where microbial activity is naturally slower.
• Fields lacking living plants to sustain microbial populations.

By feeding the soil’s microbial community, these carbon-rich products stimulate biological activity and improve nutrient cycling, creating healthier and more productive soils.

Cover Crops: Microbes Partner in Soil Health

Plants and microbes work hand-in-hand. Microbes play a critical role in making soil nutrients more available to plants, and in turn plants return the favor by secreting carbon-rich compounds from their roots that sustain microbial life. This natural partnership enhances nutrient cycling, strengthens soil structure, and fosters a healthier, more resilient growing environment.

In traditional agriculture, crop plants are the focus and fields are often left bare for extended periods, leaving soils vulnerable to erosion and biological dormancy. Building on the importance of plant diversity in soil health, one key reason to use a cover crop is to have growing plants present in a field for as many months out of the year as possible. Cover crops fill this gap, bridging the time between harvest and the next cash crop with active growth that keeps the soil ecosystem alive and productive.

Practical Tips for Using Cover Crops

• Diversify your cover crop mix to encourage microbial diversity and strengthen soil biology.
• Plant in the off-season to protect against erosion, retain moisture, and prevent nutrient runoff.
• Pair with cash crops strategically to build long-term resilience, boost organic matter, and reduce reliance on inputs over time.

How to Integrate Soil Health Strategies

Focusing on soil health doesn’t just improve microbial activity—it benefits your entire operation. By combining several strategies, you can maximize the benefits for your operation. Here are ways to combine strategies for maximum impact:

1. Adopt an Integrated Approach: Combine biostimulants, nutrient fertilizers, and products like granular, fertigation, and foliar treatments. Products like BIOZ® Diamond, for example, help increase microbial activity and improve nutrient availability. And when combined with a starter solution like Agrolution pHLow, recent trials have shown significantly improved phosphorus uptake and increased grain yields in corn and soybeans.
2. Monitor Regularly Consistent: monitoring of microbial activity, pH, and nutrient levels helps you track progress and adjust strategies accordingly. Regular testing is essential for identifying opportunities to fine-tune your approach and maximize efficiency. We don’t know what we don’t know!
3. Use Fertilizers Wisely: Strategic and targeted use of fertilizers, biostimulants, and enhanced nutrient fertilizers can reduce leaching, improve nutrient use efficiency, and promote soil structure. This precision approach helps lower input costs while delivering better crop outcomes.
4. Incorporate Cover Crops: Adding cover crops to your crop rotation does more than protect the soil—it’s an investment in future productivity and long-term soil health. Cover crops actively enhance soil structure, nutrient cycling, and organic matter, ensuring a resilient and sustainable farming system.

The bottom line is soil health isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a critical part of agriculture and always has been. By focusing on biology through tools like biostimulants, non-microbial amendments, and cover crops, we’re not only improving yields today but also ensuring that our soil remains productive for years to come.