A Review of Soil Health Measurement and Assessment Initiatives in the UK

In 2024, the Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA) with the support of stakeholders across the sector, carried out an extensive mapping exercise of the principal initiatives used to measure and assess on-farm soil health in the UK. This research included government policies, certification schemes and carbon calculators, and revealed that, while a growing number and range of organisations (government, industry, NGOs and others) are measuring and assessing soil health for productivity, environmental, regulatory and incentivisation purposes, the approaches they use vary from one scheme to the next. In particular, it highlighted how different metrics, methodologies, thresholds and terminology are used by these organisations, generating inconsistent data and therefore different interpretations of soil health.