Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems

Regional Soil Health Assessment – CSUC-NRCS Partnership

 Shovel of soil

As interest in soil health management continues to increase, so does the need for consistent, replicable, scientifically sound indicators and associated data that will allow for the assessment of how agricultural management practices are affecting soil health over time. NRCS and California State University Chico (CSUC) are working cooperatively to assess the accuracy, repeatability, and usefulness of a standard set of proposed soil health metrics in CSU Chico's service area, and broadly across California, to assess specific soils and land management systems.  Through these types of partnerships, RAI has worked to develop a soils laboratory (Regenerative Agriculture Soils Lab(opens in new window)) to support research and on-farm monitoring programs. The laboratory is working to develop additional partnerships with the Bio Nutrient Association in a national effort to understand the linkage between soil health and nutrient density in food.