By Jim Ippolito
In April 2024, Jim Ippolito, Rattan Lal Endowed Professor of Soil Health and Soil Fertility, and his colleagues Drs. Manbir Rakkar, Doug Jackson-Smith, Steve Lyon, Kevin Armstrong, Ryan Haden, and Xucheng Hu, began research to quantify soil health at the Ohio State Grace Drake Farm near Wooster, Ohio. Within this working farm, soil physical, chemical, and biological attributes are measured in deciduous and evergreen forests (i.e., potential benchmarks for soil health comparisons), in dairy and beef pastures, in organic and inorganic fertilizer-applied cropping systems, and in cropping fields under controlled or uncontrolled drainage systems. 
Soil health will be quantified using the Soil Management Assessment Framework and the Cornell Assessment of Soil Health framework in order to make comparisons between the two methods. In addition to background management practices, this soil health survey will lay the foundation for future soil health studies as on-site management practices are altered in the future.