According to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, soil health (or quality) refers to its' ability to sustain life while functioning as a vital living ecosystem. In other words, good soils support life while serving as their own unique environments!

Sustaining life is a difficult job.

Anyone with experience producing food knows this firsthand. Organisms that interact with soils directly, such as plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi (to name a few) all require a list of amenities in order to survive and thrive. In many ways, the things that soil-dwelling organisms require for life are not much different than those for people. Protection, temperature control, clean air and water, food, and waste management are all essential.

Just like well-built houses, good soils provide a suite of comforts for their inhabitants. They are stable, have a built-in thermostat, contain clean air and water, and a pantry stocked full of food. They even have their own reliable sewage systems and garbage removal services. In order to serve their tenants, soils must possess a few key features including good structure (the way particles clump together), organic matter, and biological activity.

The foundation of a well-functioning soil is its structure.

Topsoils with the greatest productivity often have a granular structure, meaning they look like cookie crumbles. These relatively small rounded clumps settle together loosely, creating pores, or pockets of space within the soil. Soil pores come in all shapes and sizes, and each plays a role within soil ecosystems. Large pores work as major highways by carrying excess water away from the root zone. They also facilitate proper ventilation.

This ensures that life-supporting oxygen makes its way to roots and soil organisms while carbon dioxide and other waste products move out of the system. Smaller pores, on the other hand, operate as water storage containers.