State of the Soils Assessment

Developing a baseline of soil health in Washington

To date, nearly 1,000 soil samples and management surveys across 50 different cropping systems have been collected as a part of the state of the soils assessment. This project is being led by WSDA and WSU, with support from staff, students, conservation districts, and agricultural professionals throughout Washington.

The State of the Soils Assessment has four primary goals:

  • SOS goal assess baseline.png_1685561482

    Assess baseline soil health in Washington

  • SOS goal assess baseline.png_1685561482 (1)

    Understand how climate, crop type, and management impact soil health

  • SOS goal assess baseline.png_1685561482 (2)

    Develop cost-effective ways for producers to assess their own soil health

  • WaSHI goal increase awareness.png_1685559988 (1) (3)

    Develop crop-specific decision-support tools

Soil Health Testing Resources

A Guide to Cleaning Soil Sampling Equipment

A Farmer’s Guide to Collecting Soil Samples

How to Interpret Soil Tests

WSDA Soil Sampling Equipment and Supply List

WSDA Soil Sampling Videos

WSDA Soil Health Standard Operating Procedures

Customized soil health reports

To build a better understanding of soil health indicators with producers, each participating producer receives an individualized soil health report, which compares their soils from those in similar crops, regions, and across the entire project and provides a description of each soil health indicator measured. Since 2020, more than 300 participating farmers have received customized soil health reports, intended to help them access, understand, and translate their soil data into informed management decisions.

These individualized reports support soil data democracy and empower farmers to engage with their data by:

  • Providing a high-level overview of soil health in agriculture.
  • Synthesizing the latest research on soil health indicators with short descriptions and graphics.
  • Offering context for interpreting soil health indicators (e.g., more is better, less is better, optimal range).
  • Describing how to make the most of soil testing.
  • Plotting the sampled fields on a map.
  • Visualizing results in both table and plot formats.
  • Comparing the farmer’s results with others in the same crop, region, and project.
  • Providing the report in two formats:
    • An interactive HTML file that can be opened in a computer browser.
    • A static Microsoft Word document that can be printed or viewed on a computer.
View an Example Interactive Report
text and images on a page.

Want to create your own customized soil health reports?

Choose the option that best fits your experience level and workflow.

Hexagon-shaped logo with a dark green border. The upper half shows a gradient sky background with the word “soils” in stylized script. The lower half depicts a brown soil cross-section with scattered light-colored particles and a simple worm illustration, suggesting underground soil activity.

{soils} R package

For users comfortable working in R who want full flexibility and reproducibility.

Check out the tool.

Read about it in this blog post.

Hexagon-shaped logo with a dark green border. The top half is a golden-yellow background with the words “DIRT DATA” in bold, dark green uppercase letters. The bottom half shows a brown soil cross-section with light-colored circular particles and a simple worm illustration. Across the soil layer, the word “REPORTS” appears in large, light-colored uppercase letters.

Dirt Data Reports

For users who want a no-code, step-by-step tool.

Check out the tool.

Read about it in this blog post.

View an interactive map of the State of the Soils Assessment

Click here to open the map in a new window

Resources about the State of the Soils Assessment

Introducing the new Postdoctoral Scholar for the State of the Soils Assessment

We are pleased that Dr. Luis Reyes Rojas has joined the WaSHI team as of March 1 to work on the State of the Soils Assessment project. Luis is a soil pedologist with significant expertise in pedometrics (the use of statistical and mathematical approaches to understand why soils developed how and where they did)

State of the Soils: A soil health assessment across Washington’s diverse soils and systems

Deirdre Griffin LaHue discusses the Washington State of the Soils Assessment Project and the Washington Soil Health Initiative, preliminary findings, challenges, and next steps.

A Farmer’s Guide to Collecting Soil Samples

Read a farmer’s guide to collecting soil samples

How to Interpret Soil Tests

Dani Gelardi discusses how soil testing has changed over time—to become more comprehensive, but also more confusing!