The 12th International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences (ABS 2026)

Abstract: Growing recognition of the importance of soils has elevated “soil health” as a central concept in agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. However, defining soil health in both conceptual and practical terms remains challenging. Unlike air and water, where standardized metrics exist, soils involve complex interactions among physical, chemical, and biological properties, making the development of reliable soil tests difficult. To guide land management, indicators must be dynamic by responding over short time scales (1–3 years), rather than static characteristics that change over decades (e.g., soil organic matter) or geologic time. While physical properties are informative, they are labor-intensive and spatially variable. Furthermore, the commercially available soil health tests are inconsistent in detecting management and do not correlate well with crop yield. There is a need for a soil health test that is temporally sensitive, robust, scalable, and interpretable across soil types. Biological indicators, particularly soil enzyme activities, show strong potential. Enzyme assays reflect microbial function, respond to management within 2–3 years, exhibit seasonal stability, and are compatible with high-throughput analysis. Some can be normalized to clay or carbon content, making measurement independent of soil type; and be measured on air-dried samples, facilitating adoption by commercial labs. Soils from across the U.S. Midwest under diverse management—including tillage, cropping intensity, and organic amendments—were evaluated using enzyme activities (arylsulfatase, N-acetylglucosaminidase, β-glucosidase), microbial markers (FAME), and selected chemical properties. These indicators were integrated into a soil health score that was sensitive to management and correlated with crop yields. This research underscores the importance of dynamic, biologically relevant indicators for advancing soil health assessment as a practical tool to guide land management and policy.

Biography: Richard Dick is an Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Soil Microbial Ecology at Ohio State University who leads a highly influential research program focused on soil microbial communities and their role in regulating biogeochemical processes and ecosystem services. He has authored over 164 peer-reviewed journal articles, contributed invited book chapters, and edited two books. His work integrates soil microbiome structure and function with applied soil health outcomes, linking biological indicators to nutrient cycling, soil resilience, and sustainable management. A defining contribution of his program is pioneering research on soil enzymology that established enzyme activities as practical, sensitive soil health indicators, now widely used. He has extensive international experience, including work in Bangladesh and over 25 years leading research in West Africa where he directs a multidisciplinary team studying shrub–crop interplanting systems, demonstrating how these systems enhance water, nutrient dynamics and crop yields, and restore degraded soils. He is a Gordon Research Conference Lecturer, Fulbright Scholar, Fellow of the Agronomy Society of America, and Fellow and past President of the Soil Science Society of America. His work is widely cited (over 12,000 citations; h-index >50) and recognized globally, including designation among the world’s top 2% of scientists.