These technical notes, fact sheets, and conservation planning, design and implementation and evaluation and monitoring activities were developed by NRCS specifically for soil health management on cropland.
Technical Notes
TN 470-SH-02 Basics of Urban Soil Health
This technical note summarizes current understanding of the characteristics of urban soils and describes the occurrence of soil health resource concerns in urban areas.
TN 470-SH-03 Site Evaluation for Urban Soil Health
This technical note outlines existing tools for assessing urban soils to support conservation planning, including reviewing background information on site history; field assessment of soil conditions; soil screening with pXRF; and laboratory testing of soils.
TN 470-SH-04 Conservation Practices for Soil Health in Urban and Small Scale Agriculture
This technical note reviews the application of NRCS conservation practices for addressing resource concerns and managing soil health in the context of urban and small-scale agriculture systems.
TN 470-SH-09 Cover Crop and Crop Aftermath Grazing Technical Note
This technical note provides tools that conservation planners and producers can use to integrate livestock on cropland and retain the intended resource benefits simultaneously.
TN 470-SH-10 Cropland In-Field Soil Health Assessment Guide
This technical note describes the Cropland In-Field Soil Health Assessment. This assessment is a diagnostic tool to help conservation planners determine and document if soil health resource concerns exist in a field.
TN 470-SH-17 Soil Health in Tropical Systems
This technical note provides tools to help with managing soil health in tropical regions, to achieve the desired resource and management goals, and to understand unique characteristics of tropical soils.
This technical note is an update to technical note 450-TCH-04 with the same name. It provides information about soil health principles and addresses pertinent conservation practices that can be used for soil health recourse concerns on cropland.
TN 470-19 Soil Health Principles
This technical note discusses how soil health principles support soil functionality on cropland, pasture, range, and forestland in varied ways.
Fact Sheets
Your Regenerative Agriculture Journey: Soil Health on Cropland
CEMA 204 Adaptive Management for Soil Health Job Aid
CEMA 216 Soil Health Testing Job Aid
Whole Farm Planning and Soil Health Testing
Soil Health Economics Case Studies (24 items)
Economics of Soil Health Systems on 100 Farms
Healthy, Productive Soils - Checklist for Growers
Unlock the Secrets in Soil - Basics & Benefits
Unlock the Secrets in the Soil - Principles for High Functioning Soils
Unlock Your Farm's Potential - Dig a Little, Learn a Lot
Unlock Your Farm's Potential - Discover the Cover
Unlock Your Farm's Potential - Do Not Disturb
EQIP CPAs, DIAs, and CEMAs
Conservation Planning Activities (CPAs)
CPA 116 Soil Health Management Plan 10-2024 (858.28 KB)
Provides a financial assistance opportunity for producers to engage a Technical Service Provider (TSP) in the development of a conservation plan that focuses on identifying addressing soil health resource issues.
Design and Implementation Activities (DIAs)
DIA 162 Soil Health Management System Design 10-2024 (247.94 KB)
Provides a financial assistance opportunity for producers to engage a Technical Service Provider (TSP) in the development of technical specifications and implementation requirements for conservation practices identified to address soil health resource issues on their operations.
Conservation Evaluation and Monitoring Activities (CEMAs)
CEMA 204 Adaptive Management for Soil Health 10-2024 (817.06 KB)
Provides a financial assistance opportunity for producers to engage a Qualified Individual to assist them with a statistically valid trial of soil health management practices or systems on small acreage of their operation.
CEMA 216 Soil Health Testing.1.2026.pdf
Provides a financial assistance opportunity for producers to engage a Qualified Individual to assist them with the laboratory analysis of soil health indicators on their operations. Additionally provides the indicators and laboratory methods NRCS supports for Soil Health Testing.