Relationships of on‐farm soil health scores with corn and soybean yield in the midwestern United States

Abstract

Soil health assessments are interpretive frameworks that estimate a soil's health by scoring various soil biological, chemical, and physical attributes to guide soil and crop management. Few large-scale analyses of soil health assessment scores exist. Thus, our objectives were to (a) summarize soil health scores at farms across much of the midwestern United States, (b) evaluate how individual soil health indicators influence assessment composite scores, (c) assess correlations among composite scores, and (d) determine the strength of significant correlations between soil health assessment scores and crop yield at three spatial and temporal scales: individual site-year, individual site, and all sites and years combined. Soil health and yield data were collected from 96 Soil Health Partnership (SHP) farmers across nine midwestern states over 2-5 yr. Soil texture influenced soil health indicator values and scores in the study region. Correlation strengths among the comprehensive assessment of soil health (CASH), the soil management assessment framework (SMAF), and the Haney soil health tool (HSHT) composite scores were soil texture dependent. Multiple years of data at individual sites improved the statistical correlations between yield and soil health scores compared with individual site years. When practitioners judge how well crop yield relates to soil health scores, examining data over time should enhance relationships. These results demonstrate that a multiyear commitment greatly improves soil health monitoring at the site level.

Assessing how cover crops close the soil health gap in on‐farm experiments

“…(2018) similarly found that CC led to increases in soil water infiltration and soybean yield by 80 and 14%, respectively, compared with no‐CC. Even though the interpretation of yield and soil health relationships are soil property and location specific, several studies have suggested that CC adoption can improve the soil fertility, structure, and hydrothermal properties while increasing cash crop yield stability (Crookston et al., 2021; Fontana et al., 2021; Williams et al., 2018). Although the relationship was not more definitive in our analysis, linking soil health relative to a reference state with yield outcomes is an active area of research that deserves more attention in the development of soil health assessments on farms (Wood & Blankinship, 2022).…”

“…similarly found that CC led to increases in soil water infiltration and soybean yield by 80 and 14%, respectively, compared with no-CC. Even though the interpretation of yield and soil health relationships are soil property and location specific, several studies have suggested that CC adoption can improve the soil fertility, structure, and hydrothermal properties while increasing cash crop yield stability(Crookston et al, 2021;Fontana…”

Spatiotemporal Changes of Cultivated Land System Health Based on PSR-VOR Model—A Case Study of the Two Lake Plains, China

“…Cultivated land system health assessment is an explanatory framework that evaluates the health condition of cultivated land systems by scoring the biological, chemical, and physical aspects of cultivated land in order to guide cultivated land utilization and crop production management [ 71 ]. The significance of the cultivated land health evaluation index at different scales is dynamic and must vary as index properties and resource management objectives for cultivated land change.…”

Soil Health: What We Know—and Don’t Know

“…This is an exciting development, but it is concerning that they found poor correlations with most of the other soil health tests currently available. Others have found similarly poor correlations with yield, but important relationships with other soil parameters (Crookston et al, 2022(Crookston et al, , 2023Rogers et al, 2018). This does not mean it is the end, but rather it is the beginning of a long road of research and practical application working cooperatively together to improve production and sustainability.…”