Soil Tech Note 25A- Soil Health Management Systems (SHMS)
Soil Health Management Systems (SHMS)
Soil Health Management Systems
SHMS encompass a variety of conservation practices that incorporate ways to improve the soil’s chemical, physical and biological properties that are essential for continued SOIL SUSTAINABILITY!
SHMS can improve Soil Health in literally any soil! How?!
- Increase nutrient cycling and plant uptake of nutrients
- Reduce sheet, rill and wind erosion
- Hold soil moisture within the plant root zone
- Add diversity of plants to soil so large variety of microbes can thrive
- Increase soil organic matter, in all its forms
- Conserve soil moisture
- Reduce soil compaction
- Suppress weed growth with mulch, residue or added cover crops
- Can reduce energy use by curtailing the need for some agronomic field trips
- Moderate surface soil temperatures which allows better microbe health and diversity
- Reduce odors affiliated with animal waste spreading due to increased activity of microbes present
- Reduce odors associated with N application when less N needs to be applied due to increased levels of organic N in the soil
- Reduce pesticide risk to water quality as any excessive chemical residue can become attached to soil particles and the increased level of organic matter in the soil
- Will also reduce the risk to pollinators and other beneficial micro and macro organisms in and on the soil