§ 151-L — Definitions

§ 151-l. Definitions. As used in this article: 1. "Soil health" means\nsoils that have the continuing capacity to function as a vital, living\necosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. The benefits of\nhealthy soil include: supporting the production of food, feed, fiber,\nand fuel; facilitating infiltration, storage and filtration of water and\nprotecting water quality; enhanced nutrient-holding capacity and\nnutrient cycling; providing habitat for diverse soil organisms; enhanced\nresilience to drought, extreme precipitation events, temperature\nextremes, pests, diseases and other stresses; breaking down harmful\nchemicals; reducing agricultural impacts on, and mitigating the impact\non agriculture of, global climate change; and sequestering carbon and\nnet long-term greenhouse gas benefits.\n 2. "Soil health practices" means agricultural and land management\npractices that improve the function of soils through actions that follow\nthe principles of: minimizing soil disturbance from soil preparation;\nmaximizing soil vegetation cover; maximizing the diversity of beneficial\nsoil organisms; maximizing presence of living roots; and integrating\nanimals into land management; and in support of such principles, include\nsuch practices as conservation tillage or no-till, cover-cropping,\nprecision nitrogen and phosphorous application, planned rotational\ngrazing, integrated crop-livestock systems, agroforestry, perennial\ncrops, integrated pest management, nutrient best management practices,\nand those practices recommended by the United States Department of\nAgriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and that are\nsupported by the state soil and water conservation committee.\n