The ‘State of the Soils’ Assessment
We are collaborating with Washington State Dept. of Agriculture and Conservation Districts to conduct a statewide soil health assessment. Originally funded by a WSDA Specialty Crop Block Grant, we focused on 7 of WA’s major specialty cropping systems: potatoes, sweet corn, onions, pulses, wine grapes, tree fruit, and hops. This effort has now been expanded through support from the Washington Soil Health Initiative (WaSHI) to sample 1000 sites across Washington in a ‘State of the Soils’ Assessment. These cropping systems have different soil health challenges, and the unique soils and microclimates in Washington make it challenging for growers apply recommendations based on research in other agricultural regions of the US. We are using this dataset to examine how management practices affect soil health indicators within cropping systems and are developing soil health curves to help growers compare soil health indicators in their fields to the range of indicator values found in their region to determine the most effective interventions.
Learn more:
- Check out an example of our interactive soil health report
- Check out the publicly available {soils} R package we’ve developed to create interactive soil health reports
- Check out our interactive map of sampled sites
- Read the Washington Soil Health Initiative Roadmap
- Watch Deirdre Griffin LaHue present on the State of the Soils Assessment at the Soil Health Nexus Digital Café
Related Extension publications:
- FS378E: Soil Health in Washington Vineyards: Extension factsheet co-authored by the project team
- FS379E: A Practical Guide to Soil Health Indicators for Monitoring Shifts in Soil Organic Matter: Extension factsheet co-authored by Deirdre Griffin LaHue
