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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Agroecosystems Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #430927
Research Project: Managing Nutrient, Carbon, and Water Fluxes to Provide Sustainable and Resilient Cropping Systems for Midwestern Landscapes

Location: Agroecosystems Management Research

Title: Organic farming impact on soil health indicators across 9 yr of management in a US Midwest Mollisol

Author
item Ruis, Sabrina
item Kovar, John
item Wacha, Kenneth
item Carney, Derek
item O'Brien, Peter
item DELATE, KATHLEEN - Iowa State University
item CAMBARDELLA, CYNTHIA - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: Ag Data Commons
Publication Type: Database / Dataset
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/16/2026
Publication Date: 1/16/2026
Citation: Ruis, S.J., Kovar, J.L., Wacha, K.M., Carney, D., O'Brien, P.L., Delate, K., Cambardella, C.A. 2026. Organic farming impact on soil health indicators across 9 yr of management in a US Midwest Mollisol. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/30999649.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/30999649

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This dataset contains soil health indicator data across 9-yr (2012-2020) from an experiment evaluating conventional corn-soybean, organic corn-soybean-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa, and an organic perennial pasture near Boone, IA. The soil samples were collected annually and analyzed using standard methods. The soil properties used as soil health indicators are microbial biomass C, potentially mineralizable C and N, pH, wet-aggregate stability, bulk density, and concentrations of organic C, total N, inorganic N (NH4 and NO3), P, and K. These data were collected to answer farmers’ key questions regarding changes in soil health under organic farming. Data were presented in Ruis et al. (2025), Soil Science Society of America Journal (https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20795).