Soil Quality and Health in Organic Systems
- Resources
- Soils and Fertility
- Horticulture
- Field Crops
- Crop Rotation
- Pest Management
- Season Extension
- Seed Production and Plant Breeding
- Livestock
- Ecology and Environment
- Nutrition, Safety and Health of Organic Foods
- Post-harvest Handling, Storage and Processing
- Social Science
- Marketing and Economics
- Transition to Organic
- Canadian Organic Research Priorities
General resources on soil quality and health in organic systems
Practical Resources
- Building Soil for Organic and Sustainable Farms, Where to Start? [PDF - 2.1 MB]
- Michigan State University's Organic Farming Exchange. 2011
- Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Soil Quality in Long-term Integrated and Transitional Reduced Tillage Organic Systems - Two-Part Webinar Series
- eOrganic. 2014
- Healthy, Productive Soils Checklist [PDF - 4.0 MB]
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Introduction to Soils Fact Sheet: Soil Quality
- Penn State Extension. 2012
- Penn State Extension. 2012
- Introduction to Soils Fact Sheet: Managing Soils
- Penn State Extension. 2012
- Linking soil fertility and soil health with Dr. Derek Lynch
- Prairie Organics: Think Whole Farm Recorded Presentations. 2016
- Prairie Organics: Think Whole Farm Recorded Presentations. 2016
- Managing the Soil to Reduce Insect Pests
- eOrganic. 2011
- The Organic Center Digs Deeper on Soil Health
- The Organic Center. 2017
- Organic Farming and Soil Health - Recorded webinar
- Science and Technology Library of USDA. 2014
- The Organic Grower's Dilemma: How to Manage Weeds Effectively Without Compromising Soil Quality
- Organic Eprints. 2010
- Organic Risk Management: Soil Health [PDF - 1.1 MB]
- University of Minnesota. 2010
- The Science of Soil Health Video Series by USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2014
- Trailer
- Getting a Handle on Mineralizable N in Soils
- Changing the Way We Think About Soil Microbes
- What Happens When You Till?
- Cover Crops and Moisture
- Simulating Rainfall on Pastures
- Understanding the Value of Legumes and Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes
- Using Cover Crops to Soak up Nutrients for the Next Crop
- Nightcrawlers and Soil Water Flow
- Fighting Plant Disease with Microbes
- Without Carrot or Stick
- Soil Feeds Plants and Vice Versa
- Compaction
- Soil Health and Organic Farming: An Ecological Approach
- Organic Farming Research Foundation. 2017
- Soil health assessment in organic farming systems [PDF - 97 kB]
- Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia. 2005
- Soil Health Improvement in an Organic Orchard Production System in Northwest Missouri
- US Organic Agriculture Research Symposium. 2015
- US Organic Agriculture Research Symposium. 2015
- Soil Health in Organic Potato Systems [PDF - 206 kB]
- OACC. 2008
- Soil Health Webinar
- Organic Farming Research Foundation. 2017
- Soil is Meant to be Covered
- OMAFRA. 2012
- OMAFRA. 2012
- Soils and Organic Food Production [PDF - 490 kB]
- Organic Council of Ontario. 2013
- Soils Sustain Life Video
- Soil Science Society of America. 2015
- Unlock Your Farm’s Potential: Dig a Little, Learn a Lot [PDF - 3.1 MB]
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Unlock Your Farm’s Potential: Discover the Cover [PDF - 2.9 MB]
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Unlock Your Farm’s Potential: Do Not Disturb [PDF - 1.9 MB]
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Unlock the Secrets in the Soil: Basics and Benefits [PDF - 1.5 MB]
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management [PDF - 730kB]
- FAO. 2016
Scientific Results
- Agroecosystem tradeoffs associated with conversion to subsurface drip irrigation in organic systems
- Agricultural Water Management (2018) 202:1-8
- Assessment of changes in soil health throughout organic potato rotation sequences
- Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (2009) 131: 220–228
- A Comparison of Soil Properties Under Organic and Conventional Farming in Australia
- Organic Eprints. 2005
- A comparison of soil and water properties in organic and conventional farming systems in England
- Soil Use and Management (2011) 27: 133-142
- Beyond nutrients: a meta-analysis of the diverse effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plants and soils
- Ecology (2017) 98: 2111-2119
- Crop Yield and Soil Organic Carbon in Conventional and No-till Organic Systems on a Claypan Soil
- Agronomy Journal (2017) 109: 588-599
- Effects of conventional and organic nitrogen fertilizers on soil microbial activity, mycorrhizal colonization, leaf antioxidant content, and Fusarium wilt in highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.)
- Scientia Horticulturae (2010) 125: 775-778
- Effects of organic transition strategies for peri-urban vegetable production on soil properties, nematode community, and tomato yield
- Applied Soil Ecology (2011) 47: 84-91
- Evaluation of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model on predicting crop yield in the Canadian Prairies: a case study
- Canadian Journal of Soil Science (2017) 97:692-702
- Evaluating Measures to Assess Soil Health in Long-Term Agroecosystem Trials
- Soil Science Society of America Journal (2016) 80: 450-462
- Exploitation of natural resources to increase soil health: BIO-INCROP, a project on organic fruit tree cropping systems
- Organic Eprints. 2012
- Fruit and Soil Quality of Organic and Conventional Strawberry Agroecosystems
- PLoS ONE (2010) 5(9): e12346
- High soil phosphorus levels overrule the potential benefits of organic farming on arbuscular mycorrhizal diversity in northern vineyards
- Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2017) 248: 144-152
- Impact of soil health management practices on soilborne pathogens, nematodes and root diseases of vegetable crops
- Applied Soil Ecology (2000) 15: 37-47
- Indicators of soil ecosystem services in conventional and organic arable fields along a gradient of landscape heterogeneity in southern Sweden
- Applied Soil Ecology (2013) 65: 1-7
- Influence of organic amendments on soil quality potential indicators in an urban horticultural system
- Bioresource Technology (2010) 101: 8897-8901
- The influence of organic transition strategy on chemical and biological soil tests
- Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2013) 28: 17-31
- Influence of reduced tillage and fertilisation regime on soil quality indicators in an organic potato production system
- Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (2017) eArticle:1-9
- Integrating soil physical and biological properties in contrasting tillage systems in organic and conventional farming
- European Journal of Soil Biology (2016) 77: 26-33
- Long-term effects of organic amendments on soil fertility. A review
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2010) 30: 401-422
- The Long-Term Agroecological Research (LTAR) Experiment Supports Organic Yields, Soil Quality, and Economic Performance in Iowa [PDF - 414 kB]
- Plant Management Network. 2013
- Management Effects on Soil Quality in Organic Vegetable Systems in Western Washington
- Soil Science Society of America Journal (2011) 75: 605-615
- Nutrient Cycling and Soil Health in Organic Cropping Systems - Importance of Management Strategies and Soil Resilience
- Sustainable Agriculture Research (2015) 4: 80-88
- The occurrence of pathogen suppressive soils in Sweden in relation to soil biota, soil properties, and farming practices
- Applied Soil Ecology (2016) 107: 57-65
- Organic and conventional field crop soil and land management practices in Canada
- Canadian Journal of Plant Science (2010) 90: 339-343
- Organic Farming for Health & Prosperity
- Organic Farming Research Foundation. 2012
- Organic farming fosters agroecosystem functioning in Argentinian temperate soils: Evidence from litter decomposition and soil fauna
- Applied Soil Ecology (2014) 83: 170-176
- Organic fertilizer effects on growth, crop yield, and soil microbial biomass indices in sole and intercropped peas and oats under organic farming conditions
- European Journal of Agronomy (2013) 52: 259-270
- Organic viticulture and soil quality: A long-term study in Southern France
- Applied Soil Ecology (2011) 50: 37-44
- Shallow non-inversion tillage in organic farming maintains crop yields and increases soil C stocks: a meta-analysis
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2016) 36: 22
- Short-term dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions and cultivable bacterial populations in response to induced and natural disturbances in organically and conventionally managed soils
- Applied Soil Ecology (2017) 119: 294-306
- Soil and human security in the 21st century
- Science (2015) 348: 6235
- Soil biological properties, soil losses and corn yield in long-term organic and conventional farming systems
- Soil and Tillage Research (2014) 139: 37-45
- Soil enzyme activities, microbial communities, and carbon and nitrogen availability in organic agroecosystems across an intensively-managed agricultural landscape
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry (2014) 68: 252-262
- Soil fertility after 10 years of conservation tillage in organic farming
- Soil and Tillage Research (2018) 175: 194-204
- Soil Health: A Comparison Between Organically and Conventionally Managed Arable Soils in the Netherlands
- Organic Eprints. 2005
- Soil Health and Related Ecosystem Services in Organic Agriculture
- Sustainable Agriculture Research (2015) 4: 116-125
- Soil Microbial Community Structure and Organic Matter Transformation Processes in Organic and Integrated Farming Systems
- Organic Eprints. 2005
- Soil properties change during the transition to integrated and organic apple production in a New York orchard
- Applied Soil Ecology (2011) 48: 18-30
- Soil properties, crop production and greenhouse gas emissions from organic and inorganic fertilizer-based arable cropping systems
- Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (2010) 139: 584-594
- Soil properties under different orchard floor management systems for organic apple production
- Organic Agriculture (2011) 3: 11-18
- Organic Agriculture (2011) 3: 11-18
- Soil quality improvement under an ecologically based farming system in northwest Missouri
- Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2013) 28: 245-254
- The study of secondary successional patterns in soil using network analysis: The case of conversion from conventional to organic farming
- Pedobiologia (2011) 54: 253-259
- Yields and Soil Quality under Transitional Organic High Tunnel Tomatoes
- HortScience (2012) 47: 38-44
Resources on specific aspects of soil quality and health in organic systems