Soil health reflects the physical, chemical, and biological condition of soil. Unlike traditional soil fertility tests that focus on crop nutrient needs, soil health testing evaluates the soil’s ability to function as a vital living ecosystem.
It is widely known that healthy soil is the foundation of agricultural productivity and long-term profitability. Less known is the importance of living organisms within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other soil life drives decomposition, releases nutrients, suppresses certain diseases, and builds soil structure that improves water movement and storage.
Soil health, as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/natural-resource-concerns/soil/soil-health), is, “the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” More specifically, healthy soil provides five essential function
Healthy soil is the foundation of productive and resilient farms, and soil chemistry plays a critical role. Soil chemical health refers to the balance of nutrients, pH, and other chemical interactions that determine how effectively soil can support crops while protecting water quality and the environment. These properties influence everything from how nutrients are stored and released to how well plants can take up nutrients to the long-term sustainability of farm productivity.
The physical properties of soil play a critical role in determining how well soils support crops, manage water, and resist degradation. This fact sheet is for Ohio farmers, advisors, and conservation professionals who want to better understand how soil texture, structure, compaction, and water movement affect soil health and crop productivity.
This fact sheet is the first in a five-part series introducing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate and related core curriculum topics. Upcoming fact sheets will cover airspace, weather, safety regulations, and career opportunities in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
Known by the scientific name Euonymus alatus, winged burning bush’s native distribution extends from Central China to northeastern Asia, but it has been present in the United States since the mid-1800s. It occurs from as far north as Ontario, Canada; south to Missouri, Kentucky, and South Carolina; and east to New Hampshire (Kartesz, 1999). Introduced as an ornamental shrub, winged burning bush has been prized as a low-maintenance hedge.
The black cutworm [(BCW) Agrotis ipsilon, family Noctuidae] is a caterpillar pest of many crops, including turfgrasses. Adults are medium-sized (1.5—1.9 inch) moths with brown wings, held flat against their back at rest.
Ailanthus (Ailanthus altissima), also known as tree-of-heaven, is a moderate-sized (60- to 80-foot-tall) deciduous tree that can grow up to 6 feet in diameter. The tree was first introduced into the United States from Asia in the late 1700s for use as an urban landscape tree (Kasson, et al., 2013) and in strip mine reclamation in the Eastern United States. Ailanthus has numerous invasive characteristics:
Over the past five decades, corn grain yields in Ohio Corn Performance Tests (Medeiros, et al., 2024) and the state average of on-farm yields (United States Department of Agriculture, National Agriculture Statistics Service, n.d.) have increased at 2.1 and 1.8 bushels-per-acre per year, respectively.
