No-Till Innovator and world renowned rhizoecologist Jill Clapperton returned to the National No-Tillage Conference earlier this year and gave attendees, as usual, a fascinating nuts-and-bolts address on soil health and the components that make it healthy.

Clapperton had spent the last 4 years in Boston as the co-founder and director of R&D and laboratory operations for Edacious PBC, but she returned last year to the firm she founded, Rhizoterra. “I built a big food lab with the idea being that we would be able to look at how we're producing food and link that back to the nutrition and the food,” Clapperton says. 

“Because intuitively and innately, we all believe that when we have healthy soils, we grow very nutritious food that is good, and from healthy soils. I built the lab and it’s taking samples today. However, I needed to get my hands back in the ground and come to meetings like this and get refueled. I needed to feed my soul and make my heart sing.”

Below are some of the most seminal points from Clapperton about soil health that should be valuable for beginners or veteran no-tillers.

1. One Size Doesn't Fit All

One mistake growers might make is comparing their farm to someone else’s farm.

“Everybody has their own agroecosystem. What you do is unique for you. It's unique for your area. It’s unique for the equipment you use. It’s unique for the soil types that you have and the crops that you grow and…