Soil Health Primer

Learn the essentials of soil health by completing these modules. Includes ungraded quizzes to check your knowledge. For optimal viewing, set the presentation to Slide Show at the start of each section.

Module 1: Introducing Soil – Understand what soil is and where it comes from, how water and air move through soil, and soil functions that underscore the need to manage this precious resource and promote soil health.

Section A: Soil Basics

Section B: Soil, Air and Water

Section C: Soil Functions

Module 2: Soil Organisms – Learn more about the soil organisms that we are trying to protect through practices that promote soil health.

Section A: Transforming Soil Organic Matter

Section B: Soil Food Web

Section C: Soil Organisms

Section D: Impact of Soil Organisms on Soil Health

Module 3: Improving Soil Health – How to evaluate soil and describe common soil problems addressed by soil health management practices.

Section A: Soil Health and Soil Quality Indicators

Section B Common: Soil Problems

Module 4: Module 4: Principles and Practices – Explore the principles and practices that promotes soil health for producers and grassland managers.

Section A: Soil Health Principles

Section B: Grassland Management

The Soil Health Primer was made possible by a grant from the USDA NRCS and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.