Technical Resources

Physical Properties

Chemical Properties

Biological Properties

Research Resources

Soil Health Concerns

Five Principles of Soil Health

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!

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.

A photo of several people standing in a field of cover crops that are about shoulder high.

Registration Open for Soil Health School in Huron!

The 2025 Soil Health School will be held September 3-5 in Huron, SD. This school will feature outstanding instructors consisting of industry professionals, researchers, and experienced producers. The days will be split between classroom discussions and field exercises designed to help you improve your land and your profit margins through regenerative agriculture practices. Visit the Soil Health School page to learn more about this excellent learning opportunity and register!

News & Events

Stay flexible when grazing through varied conditions

Stay flexible when grazing through varied conditions

By Janelle Atyeo For South Dakota Soil Health Coalition PIERRE, SD – Will there be enough forage for the herd? When will it rain? Agriculture producers are often called upon to make decisions without having all the necessary information. Weather is hard to predict by...

Invest in land at Soil Health School, June 25-26 in Caputa

Invest in land at Soil Health School, June 25-26 in Caputa

PIERRE, SD – “Invest in land, they’re not making it anymore.” It’s an age-old sentiment that was once expressed by Mark Twain and is now a familiar refrain in the agricultural community. Twain specifically said to “buy land,” but some producers have learned there is...

Virtual fences can make a real difference

Virtual fences can make a real difference

By Stan Wise PIERRE, SD – Moving livestock is an inescapable part of a rancher’s life, and it can be labor intensive, especially if a producer uses a rotational grazing system designed to improve rangeland and soil health. But what if it doesn’t have to be? Enter...