Soil health and hydrological processes: Keys to sustainable agriculture
This review explores interactions between soil health and ecohydrology, focusing on how soil health and management practices enhance water storage, reduce runoff and improve climate resilience. It highlights an integrated approach to soil and water management based on four USDA NRCS soil health principles and considerations of local context.
Subject Tags
- Land management
- Climate resilience
- Biodiversity
Abstract
Soil health is key to sustainable agriculture, yet its role in mediating hydrological processes has not been well explored. This review synthesizes the complex interactions between soil health and ecohydrology, focusing on how soil health and soil management practices enhance water storage, reduce runoff, and improve resiliency. We highlight a more integrated approach to soil and water management, built on the foundation of the four soil health principles outlined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture—National Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS): minimize disturbance, maximize living roots, soil cover, and biodiversity. When combined with considerations of local context, this practical approach to optimizing ecohydrological functions is relevant to farmers, agrifood companies, and policy makers as a tool for credibly simplifying sustainability reporting and a framework for prioritizing action and investment in support of climate resilience and resource efficiency. Indeed, considering soil health as the key to unlocking the societal benefits of optimizing ecohydrological dynamics creates an opportunity to develop management regimes across fields, farms, and basins that are both pragmatic and holistic.
Citation
Jerry L. Hatfield, Kelly A. Racette, Hannah E. Birgé, Darya J. Wecker, Briana M. Wyatt, Kenneth M. Wacha, Rattan Lal, Soil health and hydrological processes: Keys to sustainable agriculture, Editor(s): Donald L. Sparks, Advances in Agronomy, Academic Press, Volume 199, 2026, Pages 129-166, ISSN 0065-2113, ISBN 9780443432682, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.agron.2026.05.003.
TNC Authors
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Kelly Racette
SR Science Strategy Manager, Corporate Engagement
The Nature Conservancy
Email: kelly.racette@tnc.org -
Hannah Birgé
The Nature Conservancy -
Darya Wecker
The Nature Conservancy