ABSTRACT
Biological indicators of soil health in organic cultivation A. Fortuna, Washington State University, USA; A. Bhowmik, Pennsylvania State University, USA; and A. Bary and C. Cogger, Washington State University, USA
1 Introduction
2 Metrics of soil health
3 Using biological indicators
4 Conclusions and future trends
5 Acknowledgements
6 Where to look for further information
7 References
Farmers around the globe face struggles and challenges when it comes to maintaining and increasing crop productivity. With such a wide variation in social, economic and political factors, soil types, moisture, temperature, precipitation and countless other environmental factors, managing soil consistently and creating standard measurements for soil testing across the industry are not easy tasks. Traditional ‘soil testing’ has been important to determine what inputs need to be applied and what nutrients are already present in the soil (Brady and Weil, 2002). But, these soil tests often leave out all or a portion of nutrients stored in organic fractions within or associated with soil. Looking at results from one or several soil tests does not provide the full picture of what is going on underground.
