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Welcome to the web home for Field, Lab, Earth, the podcast from the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. The podcast all about past and present advances in agronomic, crop, soil, and environmental sciences, our show features timely interviews with our authors about research in these fields.

Field, Lab, Earth releases on the third Friday of each month in addition to the occasional bonus episode. If you enjoy our show, please be sure to tell your friends and rate and review. If you have a topic, author, or paper you would like featured or have other feedback, please contact us on Twitter @fieldlabearth or use the email icon below. You can join our newsletter to receive notifications about new episodes and related resources here.

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  2. Soil Health Principles in Iowa with Dr. Marshall McDaniel and Hillary Olson

Soil Health Principles in Iowa with Dr. Marshall McDaniel and Hillary Olson

May 22, 2026

“Putting the Soil Health Principles to the Test in Iowa, USA” with Dr. Marshall McDaniel and Hillary Olson

Soil health principles can help guide farmers in best practices for long term soil health and improvement. However, it’s important to test these principles across locations and contexts to see how their implementation is actually shaping soil health. In this episode, Marshall and Hillary join me to discuss testing the soil health principles in Iowa and how this might be expanded into further regions.

Tune in to learn:

·        What the soil health principles are

·        Which soil health indicators are fast or slow movers

·        Why it’s difficult to weight soil health principles

·        What future research is yet to be done

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20761

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you’d like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Marshall, you can find him here:
marsh@iastate.edu

If you would like to reach out to Hillary, you can find her here:
hillary.olson@usda.gov

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid={599CC6CF-E055-F111-BEC7-0022480A5E44}

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NmEwZWZmOWI2MGY5M2E0NzIxNzBhMzk0N3dEdVNTQTJSZlpW/o/VEMwNzE0NTg0MjI2 

NRCS Soil Health website: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/natural-resource-concerns/soil/soil-health

In field soil health assessment: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/soil/soil-health/soil-health-assessment

McDaniel lab: https://www.soil-plant.com

McDaniel lab X: https://x.com/Soil_Plant_IXNs

McDaniel lab Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/soil-plant.bsky.social

McDaniel Lab LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soil-plant-ixns/

Soil Health Institute: https://soilhealthinstitute.org/

Maximum water holding capacity with a DIY method: A simple, affordable, do-it-yourself method for measuring soil maximum water holding capacity. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 55(8), 1190-1204.

Permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) study: Permanganate oxidizable carbon reflects a processed soil fraction that is sensitive to management. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2011.0286

A Soil Owner’s Manual: How to Restore and Maintain Soil Health by John Stika: https://www.amazon.com/Soil-Owners-Manual-Restore-Maintain/dp/1530431263

Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis: https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.