Review: The economics of soil health

Soil health plays an important role in agricultural productivity, food quality, environmental resiliency, and ecosystem sustainability. Consequently, there is great interest from policymakers for evidence-based research on the benefits and costs of investing in healthy soils. In this article, I endeavor to build a common understanding between economists, soil scientists, and policymakers about how to pursue research on the economics of soil health. First, I summarize the current understanding of soil health as a holistic and multidimensional concept beyond that of mere soil fertility. Second, I argue that optimal control models are particularly well suited to capture the underlying economics of soil management. Finally, I outline relevant implications of such an approach for setting soil health policy.