Issue Area

Soil Health

Overview

Healthy soil provides clean air and water, bountiful crops and forests, productive grazing lands, diverse wildlife, and beautiful landscapes. Along the Mississippi River, when present, healthy soil: increases farm profitability, reduces flood risk and improves drought resilience, improves water quality, recharges groundwater, and improves water infiltration into soil. States through the Mississippi River corridor and beyond are exploring programs and methods of increasing state funding for soil health.

NCEL Point of Contact
Chris Askew-Merwin

Sustainable Agriculture and Water Specialist

Contact
Key Facts

Soil has five essential functions: managing water resources, sustaining plant and animal life, filtering nutrient runoff, cycling nutrients, providing physical stability and support.

Healthy soil retains many times its weight in water, reducing severity of stormwater run-off and soil erosion while also making it more resilient to droughts and floods.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated that 33% of soil is moderately to highly degraded through erosion, salinization, compaction, acidification, chemical pollution and nutrient depletion, hampering soils’ function and affecting food production.

Viewing All Bills
Filter

Issue

Status

WY WV WI WA VT VA UT TX TN SD SC RI PA OR OK OH NY NV NM NJ NH NE ND NC MT MS MO MN MI ME MD MA LA KY KS IN IL ID IA HI GA FL DE DC CT CO CA AZ AR AL AK
Select a State
3FDBD0CA-FB8F-493F-AF5D-3E4DED843A45

Resources

NCEL Resources

Online Resources

Soil Health - USDA

Information from USDA on soil health and the benefits it provides.

Go to resource
Soil Solutions

10 facts about soil.

Go to resource
What's Soil Got To Do With Rivers?

Blog post from MRN about the connection between soil and river health.

Go to resource

News and Events

See All

Highlighting Our Successes