INTRODUCTION TO SOIL ARTICLES
The articles in the soil sections offer two potential paths for assessing your soil: a qualitative sensory approach (Article 3A) and a quantitative calculation approach (Article 3B). Most growers will find value in both. Use what you read in Sections 1 and 2 of “the publication” — particularly the AWHC calculation method and the hand texturing technique — to inform your observations at each depth. The last article presents a suite of practices that improve soil health, which also increase water infiltration, rooting depth, and available water holding capacity.
The three soil articles work well in sequence, but you can start wherever makes sense for where you are. Already know your soil texture and rooting depth? Jump to 3B and calculate your AWHC. Already have your numbers? Go straight to 3C and connect them to strategy.
READ FIRST
Throughout the soil articles, we’ll refer to ‘the publication,’ meaning Understanding and Evaluating Site Factors Related to Dry-Farmed Vegetable Productivity. Before diving into the soil articles, we suggest reading the following sections:
- Section 1 — Soils and soil properties: Introduction to soils; Understanding Available Water Holding Capacity (AWHC); Soil sponge analogy; Soil depth and horizons; How to calculate AWHC; Subsoil constraints; and yields.
- Section 2 — Evaluating soil properties: Simple ad hoc evaluation; Digging a soil pit; Hand texturing your soil.
Then return here to complete the Soil Profile Assessment, recording texture, structure, and moisture at each depth interval, and estimating available water holding capacity for each location on your farm.
DFI × OSU CRAFS · Water Resilience Toolkit · Grower Pathway