Assessing Soil Health for Tree Fruit and Vine Crops

What is soil health? The objective of this presentation is to present information on the types of measurements of soil biological properties that might be useful as bio-indicators of soil health. First, however, it is necessary to discuss what soil health means. Scientists, farmers and land managers have long known that there is more to the productive capacity of soil than what can be predicted from knowledge of parent material, texture, chemical properties and available levels of macro and micronutrients. It was also widely understood that soil biology was the missing element from earlier research to understand the productive capacity of soil, and that it would be beneficial to begin thinking of the soil as an ecosystem in which productive capacity arises from the interaction of biological interactions and processes with soil physical and chemical properties. Consequently, the concept of soil ecosystem health arose in the 1990’s, and the following “textbook” definition has come to be the most widely accepted definition of soil health: “The continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain the quality of air and water environments, and promote plant, animal, and human health” (Doran and Safley 1997).