The topic of soil health is receiving lots of attention from scientists and growers. While we know that soil microbes are critical components of a healthy soil, it’s less clear how we should monitor soil microbes when assessing soil health. Improving soil health and determining what a “healthy” soil might be in Florida agricultural is also challenging due to the sub-tropical climate and sandy soils.

Several projects in our lab are addressing these issues by studying how different management practices, such as cover crops or compost, impact soil health. In particular, we’re examining how soil microbial changes are related to other soil health metrics. The goal of these research projects is to provide growers with specific metrics to assess soil health in their fields or orchards as well as optimized management practices for improving soil health.

More details on one of these projects can be found here: