This Soil Health For Sustainable Agriculture module is part of the Biomass Energy Training Curriculum, 13 modules developed through a Southern SARE grant and collaboration between Tennessee State University, the University of Tennessee, eXtension.org, and USDA-Rural Development. While it is written as a training guide for TN producers, much of the information is applicable throughout the Southeastern US region.
This curriculum is designed to increase the knowledge base of extension agents and local officials on biomass energy; so that they may, in turn, provide this information to their stakeholders.
Link to the full Biomass Energy Training Curriculum
This module covers: soil health field indicators, soil health testing, and management practices to improve soil health
Learning objectives: Participants will be able to identify different types of field indicators for soil health assessment, perform different soil health assessments in the field, identify laboratory analyses for further testing, and identify solutions for different adverse soil health factors.
Curriculum Materials – Soil Health For Sustainable Agriculture:
- Presentation slides
- Participant handout
- Lesson guide – provides informative notes, test questions, and an evaluation form.
- Handouts:
More Information from other specialists:
- References and Additional Resources for Biomass Training Curriculum
- Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Learning Center Resources:
- Building Soils for Better Crops: Sustainable Soil Management – available as online text, downloadable PDF, or for sale as a book
- Cover Crop Topic Room
- Soil Management
- Soil Quality/Health
- Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health – Cornell University
- USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Resources:
- Soil and Fertility Management in Organic Farming Systems – Resources from specialists across the U.S. – eXtension.org
- Soil Health and Compost Information for Vegetable and Berry Growers – Index, Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers
Module Author Jason de Koff is an Associate Professor of Agronomy and Soil Science for Tennessee State University’s Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. His research focuses on bioenergy crop production, with specific interests in switchgrass and winter canola production. His extension training programs and educational resources provide current bioenergy production information to producers. Find his latest on Twitter: @TSUBioenergy
These training resources are freely available for educational purposes under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Please provide attribution: The Biomass Energy Training Curriculum by Jason de Koff, Tennessee State University; funded by Southern SARE.
If you wish to adapt these curriculum materials for your own educational purposes, please contact the Curriculum Author for permission and files:
Specialists from Tennessee State University, the University of Tennessee, eXtension.org, and USDA-Rural Development developed this Biomass Energy Curriculum, with funding from Southern SARE.
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program’s mission is to advance—to the whole of American agriculture—innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. SARE is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA. www.sare.org.