Technical Resources

South Dakota Healthy Soils Handbook

This book is your guide to soil health principles, practices and options for your operation. If you want to learn more about soil and find advice on how to implement good soil health practices, the South Dakota Healthy Soils Handbook is just what you need. You can read and download the entire book here. For the best viewing experience, we recommend the following web browsers: Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox. If you would like a hard copy of the book, please contact the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition.

Growing Connections

Interested in talking to another producer or technical experts about how they have used soil health practices? This free mobile app houses a network of individuals willing to mentor and answer your questions! Giving advice, finding solutions, and growing connections for healthier soil, healthier crops, healthier livestock, and healthier people!

Soil Health Improvement and Planning Project

This project offers financial and technical assistance to producers willing to adopt certain soil health management practices for land within specific watershed areas in South Dakota.

Cover Crop Poster

The Cover Crop Poster has all the information you need to plan and plant a cover crop in one convenient location! It also contains information on the benefits of cover crops and examples of cover crop root systems! This is the perfect addition to any farm office wall!

Small Scale Ag Cover Crop Poster

The Small Scale Ag Cover Crop Poster has information about cover crops specifically targeted for small scale producers. Cover crops can serve a number of purposes in a garden or small farm, including weed control and forage. This poster can help you find the right cover crop for your needs and get it established!

Mesonet at SDState

Mesonet at SDState is a network of automated weather stations that provides high definition weather coverage: areas of just a few hundred square miles and time intervals of several times per hour. ThThe e network features many tools useful for making agricultural decisions and excels in providing high precision data particularly with highly variable elements like wind and precipitation.

Soil Health Assessment Card – English and Spanish

The South Dakota Soil Health Coalition has created a Soil Health Assessment Card which agricultural producers of all types, ranchers, gardeners, and others can utilize on site to assess their current level of soil health. Download the current version of the card, and utilize it in one of your fields, or production areas today! A mobile app version of the assessment card is available on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store – just search for “Soil Health Assessment App.” Contact us if you would like a Soil Health Technician to visit with you about your results or assist you in completing the card.

Grazing Cover Crops Worksheet

Use this worksheet to caculate the available forage in a given acreage of cover crops and the number of days it can be grazed.

Structuring Grazing Leases

A great lease can be the key to not only a good relationship between landowner and renter, but also the key to improving land. This guide to creating a grazing lease by SDSU Extension Range Field Specialist Pete Bauman includes ranch resource goals to improve landowner-lessee relationships. It also includes helpful photos, definitions for useful terms, discussion of common concerns, and example lease language.

Additional Resources

• Soil Quality Indicator Fact Sheets- USDA NRCS
• Soil Texture Calculator- USDA NRCS
• Soil Quality Test Kit Guide-USDA NRCS
• Soil Structure Backgrounder – USDA NRCS
• South Dakota Drought Tool
• South Dakota Grazing Tool
• Cover Crop Table 1
• Cover Crop Excel Worksheet
• Reading the Range: Range Readiness, Grazing Timing and Drought Considerations – SDSU Extension
• Rangeland Wildflowers: Their Value to Livestock and Pollinators – Northern Great Plains Edition
• Ranch Drought Planning – SDSU Extension
• Regenerative Rangelands: Five Range Management Principles – SDSU Extension
• Five Range Management Principles: Adaptive Management – SDSU Extension
• “How To Avoid Soil Compaction: True, False, Q&A”- Corn+Soybean Digest
• “Managing Cover Crops Profitably” Third Addition PDF
• “Building Soils For Better Crops” By Fred Magdoff and Harold Van Es PDF
• “Recommendations for Managing Corn Residue at Harvest” Paul Jasa, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Palmer Amaranth ID Pamphlet- SDSU Extension 2020
• Identification and Information: Cool-Season Grasses of South Dakota – SDSU Extension
• Identification and Information: Warm-Season Grasses of South Dakota – SDSU Extension
• Identification and Information: Poisonous Plants on Rangelands – SDSU Extension

Registration Open for 2026 Soil Health Schools!

The Coalition will host two Soil Health Schools in 2026! The West River Soil Health School is set for June 24-25 near Caputa, SD, and the South Dakota Soil Health School is set for Sept. 15-17 near Twin Brooks and Marvin, SD. These events are designed for agricultural producers as well as anyone with an interest in learning how to manage soils for resiliency and profit. The agenda features classroom style presentations by producers and technical experts from across the state and region, as well as hands-on experiences in the field. Area producers will share their challenges and successes with various methods for improving soil health, to an average class size of 30-40. Registration is open, so check out our events page to learn more!