Soil Quality

Total organic carbon is a measure of recent and historic organic additions to soil. Turnover rates for different types of soil organic carbon can vary from one month to thousands of years. Measuring total soil organic carbon provides information related to physical and chemical aspects of soil and overall soil fertility.

	“Poor”	“Fair”	“Good”
Sand	< 0.5	0.5-1.0	>1.0
Loam	<1.5	1.5-2.0	>2.0
Clay	<2.0	2.0-2.5	>2.5