Application of Visual Soil Evaluations in a Semiarid Region

Authors: Liebig, Mark; Friedrichsen, Claire; Clemensen, Andrea; Archer, David

Submitted to: Geoderma
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/14/2025
Publication Date: 9/25/2025
Citation: Liebig, M.A., Friedrichsen, C.N., Clemensen, A.K., Archer, D.W. 2025. Application of Visual Soil Evaluations in a Semiarid Region. Geoderma. v462. Article 117509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117509.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117509

Interpretive Summary: Visual soil evaluations (VSEs) are hands-on approaches to assess the structural quality of soil. They are useful for land managers, as VSEs provide rapid, low-cost information that could be used in place of complex field and laboratory measurements. Unfortunately, most land managers do not use VSEs as they are not aware of them, particularly in North America. A half-day VSE workshop was developed for interested farmers, conservationists, extension educators, and other agriculturalists by the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, Mandan, ND USA. The workshop provided a brief overview of the Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) method. Participants applied the method in five fields with different cropping practices. The workshop was held four times between 2018 and 2023. Using VESS, workshop attendees were able to detect soil structure differences among cropping practices. Attendees’ VESS scores were associated with soil organic matter, soluble carbon, and carbon mineralization, along with spring wheat yield. Results suggest land managers can quickly learn and successfully apply VSEs to assess rainfed cropping practices in a semiarid region.

Technical Abstract: Visual soil evaluations (VSEs) offer land managers a valuable method to efficiently assess soil condition. Scores from quantitative VSEs are often associated with soil properties known to directly influence agroecosystem function, thereby providing useful information to guide management decisions. However, practitioner awareness and adoption of VSEs is limited, particularly in North America. To explore the potential utility of VSEs for practitioner use, a half-day workshop was developed for interested farmers, conservationists, extension educators, and other agriculturalists. The workshop, developed by the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, Mandan, ND USA, provided a brief overview of the Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) followed by opportunities to apply the method on five fields with different cropping practices but a common soil type (Typic Haplustoll). The workshop was held four times between 2018 and 2023 following spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) harvest. Workshop attendees were able to discern differences in soil structure among cropping practices using VESS (P = .01). Mean attendee VESS scores were 3.8, 2.6, 3.0, 2.4, and 1.1 for spring wheat-fallow, 3-yr, 5-yr, Dynamic, and Dynamic + Manure cropping system treatments, respectively. Attendee VESS scores were significantly associated with measurements of soil organic matter (r = -0.82), soluble C (r = -0.84), and C mineralization (r = -0.82), along with spring wheat grain (r = -0.51) and straw (r = -0.67) yield. Findings from this study suggest land managers can quickly learn and successfully apply VSEs for assessment of rainfed cropping practices in a semiarid region.