Resource Roundup
February 12, 2026 | Online via Zoom Webinar
A fully virtual webinar of presentations and panel discussions exploring the latest advances in soil health research and management across cropping systems in Washington and beyond.
Session 1: Status of the World’s Soil Resources
David Lobb, University of Manitoba
Key Takeaways
- Soil health is a complex and often misunderstood concept that varies depending on context, land use, and management goals.
- Soil health should not be evaluated against a single ideal condition -“healthy” is relative to the soil’s inherent properties.
- Core soil health principles (e.g., minimizing disturbance, maximizing cover, increasing diversity, maintaining living roots) remain foundational across systems.
- Management decisions strongly influence infiltration, organic matter, and long-term soil function.
Resources
Session 2: Long-Term Soils Research
Surendra Singh, Lind Dryland Research Station
Tayler Ulbrich, Kellogg Biological Station LTAR
Dani Gelardi, Washington State Department of Agriculture
Key Takeaways
- Long-term experiments are critical for understanding how soil health practices perform over decades rather than years.
- Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a central role in productivity, resilience, and carbon cycling.
- Higher SOM soils often exhibit increased biological activity, including higher respiration, but also greater capacity to store and stabilize carbon.
- Soil health metrics and trends must be interpreted carefully within the context of each soil type and environment.
- Archiving soil samples over time enables future research as measurement technologies evolve.
Resources
Session 3: Soil Microbiology
Jean-Michel Ané University of Wisconsin–Madison
Mallory Choudoir North Carolina State University
Kirsten Hofmockel Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Maren Friesen, Washington State University
Key Takeaways
- Biological nitrogen fixation could reduce fertilizer needs, with engineered microbes already on the market and new maize and sorghum varieties being developed to capture more nitrogen from the atmosphere.
- Soil microbial communities differ by location, soil conditions, and management practices, highlighting the need for region-specific soil health strategies.
- Microbes are critical to nutrient cycling and long-term carbon storage, with dead microbial material(necromass) now recognized as an important source of stable soil organic matter.
- The best ways to support beneficial soil microbiomes are keeping living roots in the soil, minimizing disturbance, maintaining soil cover, and increasing biodiversity.
Resources
Session 4: Soil Health Lightning Talks
Ten soil health researchers and practitioners (see list below)
Monitoring soil health indicators in potato cultivation using remote sensing and machine learning
Kwenama Buthelezi, University of KwaZulu Natal
Managing soil moisture and soil physical health for potato production in northwestern Washington
Isha Chand, Washington State University
How does organic management influence soil susceptibility to compaction, plant available water, and water movement?
Paul Martinez, Washington State University
WaSHI Soil Health Ambassadors Program
Leslie Michel, Washington State Department of Agriculture
Soil Microbial Community Responses to Biostimulant Application in Utah Farms: A Phospholipid Fatty Acid Profile Analysis
Benedict Okorie, Utah State University
Managing Nutrients with the Right Tools: New WSDA Resources for Nutrient Management
Adam Peterson, Washington State Department of Agriculture
Splitting cover crop benefits between soil and biofuel feedstock
Teal Potter, Washington State University
Assessing Carbon Storage Potential of Regeneratively Managed Vineyard Soils
Gwendolyn Richards, California Polytechnic State University
Dirt Data Reports: A No-Code Soil Health Reporting Tool
Jadey Ryan, Washington State Department of Agriculture
Can Continuous Soil Water Retention Monitoring Enhance Soil Health Assessment?
Tejinder Singh, Utah State University
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