Soil Health – It’s Not All Microbiology

Soil Health research tends to bias to a biology/microbiology emphasis. We believe this bias neglects important physical and chemical relations in soil that are crucial to soil function. We offer several examples illustrating this bias, and how it may misrepresent management practices that have the greatest influence on Soil Health. Four suggestions are given as approaches to mitigate this bias. By appreciating soil structure as a foundation for Soil Health and its microbial community, we believe better recommendations can be made to assist the farm community in its stewardship of soil as a critical natural resource.