Soil Health Primer

When we created the first NoRegrets website in 2018, one of our main goals was to highlight the significance of soil as a carbon sink that could be important in climate mitigation. At the time, conversations around healthy soils, regenerative agriculture, and climate change were relatively rare. We created a primer to share many of the resources that we knew of about healthy soil, which we had been unable to find anywhere else.  Our target audience was philanthropists and investors because of the small amount of funding that was flowing into the space.

There are now many websites, films, networks, and organizations educating people about the importance of healthy soils and nature-based carbon sinks. Thanks to this good work, we've archived our Soil Health Primer but have kept it as a time-capsule to peer back at.


Soil is complex, and beautiful. We have learned about soil over time, through relationships and experience. It’s an evolving science, with new information frequently emerging. We designed this Soil Health Primer to take you on a journey through the philosophy, relationships and ecosystem of soil.

How to use this resource: This primer begins with philosophy and gets increasingly specific about the ecosystem as it proceeds. You can use the table of contents below to skip around, or you can read it all the through. Either way, we hope you find it useful.

The Philosophy

Embracing Complexity

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Why So Urgent? The 25-Year Time Horizon

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What Is Sustainability?

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What is biodiversity?

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What are the consequences of declining biodiversity?

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What are the benefits of thriving biodiversity?

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What is organic?

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Regenerative Agriculture

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Regenerative Business Economics

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Soil Project Investment Exit Pressures and Medium to Long Term Viability

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The Relationship

Regenerative Agriculture: More Land Stewards Making Real Livings

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Social Diversity: How Does It Relate to Soil Diversity?

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Why is it important for people and animals to stay on the land?

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Future of Agriculture: According to Practitioners

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Stories: Communities Being Rebuilt Through Regenerative Practices

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Enhancing the Social, Economic, and Ecological landscape through land management decisions

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Regional Momentum and Community

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Diverse Ownership

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The Ecosystem

Basics of Soil Health

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Increasing Biodiversity: Polyculture! (Not Monoculture)

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Building Soil: Crop Rotation

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Building Soil: Holistic Management and Rotational Grazing

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General Practices for Increasing Biodiversity

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Beyond Organic: Agroecology/Agroforestry

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Beyond Organic: Permaculture

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Soil and Climate-Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Reversal

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Co-Benefits of Increasing Soil Health

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Soil Health Monitoring Metrics, Mechanisms, Techniques and Laymen Accessible Practices

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