Free Soil Health Testing for Farmers and Ranchers

Montana farmers and ranchers have an opportunity to participate in Probing Our Country’s Soil Health, a nationwide public-private partnership working to improve how soil health information can support on-the-ground management decisions.

The project is helping expand the Soil Health Assessment Protocol and Evaluation (SHAPE) tool, a free resource being developed to help producers better understand the condition of their soils and identify management practices that can improve long-term soil health and productivity. According to the project FAQ, the enhanced SHAPE tool is expected to be publicly available in 2029 and will provide soil health benchmarking through both an online platform and smartphone app.

Participant Benefits

Landowners who participate will receive:

• Compensation for approximately one hour of their time.
• A personalized soil health report for participating fields, including laboratory analysis valued at approximately $1,000 per field.
• A complimentary hard-copy photo book, Probing Our Country’s Soil Health, highlighting soil health across the United States and showcasing project outcomes.

What Participation Involves

Participants will:

• Complete a one-hour Zoom meeting with a project facilitator to discuss management practices for two or three fields.
• Allow a soil sampling team access to enrolled fields for hand-probe soil sampling at two to three locations per field. Sampling generally occurs 3-6 months after the survey, with advance notice provided.

The project also emphasizes that participant identities and personally identifiable information will remain protected, and field locations and management information will not be shared without permission.

Learn More

Watch the project overview video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WfiNG8LUAY

Schedule your enrollment appointment:
https://calendly.com/probing-our-countrys-soil-health/shape-survey

Participation is limited by the number of available fields in each state, so interested producers are encouraged to enroll early while openings remain available.