When we talk about soil health, we’re really talking about how well the soil functions over time. The USDA Natural Resources ...

Take a look out at this landscape. What do you notice? Credit: Shutterstock Take a walk outside. Get some fresh air. What do you notice around you? Buildings, trees, and the sky may be on your list, ...

Soils are impacted globally by several anthropogenic factors, including chemical pollutants. Among those, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are of concern due to their high ...

URBANA, Ill. – The soil microbiome is critical for the ecosystem, and agricultural practices that promote microbial diversity can support plant health and help protect against pests. But it is unclear ...

We know that soil feeds plants, but do we know how it got there in the first place? Soil forms via the interaction of five factors: parent material, climate, living beings, a land’s topography, and a ...

While traditional soil testing has focused on chemistry, a growing range of tools are now available to help farmers assess ...

Salts are compounds formed when positively charged cations such as sodium (Na⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺), magnesium (Mg²⁺) and potassium (K⁺) combine with negatively ...

image: Clusters of soil viral sequences (contigs) identified across a historical precipitation gradient from arid Washington (purple) to intermediate Kansas (Blue), to wet Iowa (Orange), showing a mix ...

New EU legislation supporting healthier soils was adopted in December 2025 incorporating environmental DNA analysis which is ...