Soil health testing provides an integrated assessment of biological, physical, and chemical attributes to inform the sustainable management of farm fields. However, it is unclear how tests reflect farmers’ own assessments of soil quality and agronomic performance, which may disproportionately influence farm management practices. We asked farmers in three regions of Michigan to identify three fields to compare their own assessments against soil health tests: a “best,” a “worst,” and a “non-row crop” reference field. Each field was tested for soil aggregate stability, available water capacity, soil organic matter (SOM), mineralizable carbon (MinC), permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), pH, P, and K. We evaluated soil health scores using paired t tests to compare results from contrasting fields with farmers’ assessments of each field. Across all farms, the overall soil health test score for cropped fields was significantly higher on fields farmers rated as “Best.” This result was driven solely by physical and biological (including C) parameters; inorganic chemical tests did not distinguish among field types. On reference fields in all regions, biological parameters were consistently higher, but inorganic chemical and physical measures were not. The performance of soil C measures was inconsistent: SOM and MinC consistently detected significant differences between “Best” and “Worst” cropped fields, but POXC did not. Our results suggest that common soil health assays for physical and biological attributes generally align well with farmers’ assessments of their fields. That soil health tests match farmer experience reinforces the value of these tests as a meaningful guide for soil management decisions.

中文翻译：

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土壤健康测试是否符合农民的经验？评估美国中西部上游的生物、物理和化学指标

土壤健康测试提供对生物、物理和化学属性的综合评估，为农田的可持续管理提供信息。然而，尚不清楚测试如何反映农民自己对土壤质量和农艺表现的评估，这可能会不成比例地影响农场管理实践。我们要求密歇根州三个地区的农民确定三个田地，将他们自己的评估与土壤健康测试进行比较：“最佳”、“最差”和“非中耕作物”参考田。每个田地都进行了土壤团聚体稳定性、有效水容量、土壤有机质 (SOM)、可矿化碳 (MinC)、高锰酸盐可氧化碳 (POXC)、pH、P 和 K 的测试。我们使用配对t评估土壤健康评分将对比田地的结果与农民对每个田地的评估进行比较的测试。在所有农场中，农户被评为“最佳”的农田的整体土壤健康测试得分明显更高。该结果完全由物理和生物（包括 C）参数驱动；无机化学测试不区分田间类型。在所有区域的参考场中，生物参数始终较高，但无机化学和物理测量值并非如此。土壤碳测量的性能不一致：SOM 和 MinC 始终检测到“最佳”和“最差”耕地之间的显着差异，但 POXC 没有。我们的结果表明，针对物理和生物属性的常见土壤健康分析通常与农民对其田地的评估一致。