BE KIND TO YOUR SOIL
            Good soil quality simply means that the soil does what we want it to do. Soil types are not all the same. And each combination of soil type and land use calls for a different set of practices to enhance soil quality.
            People have different ideas about what they want soil to do. A farmer wants to sustain or enhance productivity, maximize profit, and maintain the soil for future generations. Consumers want plentiful, healthful, and inexpensive food. For a homeowner or groundskeeper, soil must support a desired landscape. An environmentalist sees soil as the basis for an ecosystem that provides biodiversity, water quality, and nutrient cycling.
            Although specific practices depend on the situation, soil quality management includes six components identified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on its website, http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/management.html.

1. Enhance organic matter – adding new organic matter every year is perhaps the most important way to improve and maintain soil quality; regular additions of organic matter improve soil structure, enhance water and nutrient holding capacity, protect soil from erosion and compaction, and support a healthy community.
2. Avoid excess tillage – reducing tillage minimizes the loss of organic matter and protects the soil surface with plant residue; disturbing the soil when preparing the seedbed can break up soil structure, speed loss of organic matter, increase erosion, destroy habitat of helpful organisms, and cause compaction.
3. Manage pests and nutrients efficiently – pesticides and chemical fertilizers have valuable benefits, but they also can harm non-target organisms and pollute water and air if they are mismanaged; nutrients from organic sources also can pollute when misapplied or over-applied.
4. Prevent soil compaction – compaction reduces the amount of air, water, and space available to roots and soil organisms; deep compaction by heavy equipment is difficult or impossible to remedy, so prevention is essential.
5. Keep the ground covered – ground cover protects soil, provides habitats for larger soil organisms, such as insects and earthworms, and can improve water availability; ground can be covered by leaving plant residue on the surface, by applying mulch, or by planting cover crops.
6. Diversify cropping systems – diversity is beneficial for several reasons; each plant contributes a unique root structure and type of residue to the soil;  diversity of soil organisms can help control pest populations, and diversity of cultural practices can reduce weed and disease pressures. For the farmer, using buffer strips, small fields, or contour strip cropping can increase diversity across the landscape.

In every case it is important to remember that different soils have different types of natural characteristics. Your Soil and Water Conservation District can help you know soil types.
As a farmer, gardener, or landscaper plan for management practices that are kind to the soil and the living things underfoot.

Della Moen, Earth Team Volunteer, NRCS/Stephenson Soil and Water
Conservation District, an equal opportunity provider and employer, 04/29/09 (for publication on 05/09/09 in the Journal-Standard, Freeport, Illinois). Della can be reached at info@stephensonswcd.org