The Virginia Soil Health Coalition brings farmers, conservation professionals, researchers, and organizations together around a shared goal: building healthier soils across Virginia. Our 2025 Annual Report highlights the progress that collaboration makes possible. Over the past year, partners across the state worked together to expand soil health education, strengthen networks, and support the adoption of practices that improve soil function, resilience, and productivity. Th

One of the most widely cited definitions of soil health describes it as “the continued capacity of a soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” It’s a definition that reminds us that soil is not inert—it is alive, interconnected, and supporting a vital network. But it also raises a practical question: what are those functions, and how do we strengthen them? When we think of an organization, collaborative, or network, the same need

We invite you to be part of the first annual Virginia Farm-to-Table Harvest Celebration taking place on Saturday, October 25th from 4 - 8 p.m. at On Sunny Slope Farm in Rockingham. 

Pond Creek flows into the Elk River, top, in Cecil County, Maryland. (Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program with support from LightHawk)...

Cattle Run Farm LLC is a third-generation family-operated and veteran-owned farm in the central Piedmont region of Virginia. Sarah and Ralph Morton, sister and brother, continue their family tradition and expand the concept of an agrarian lifestyle and business within their  community. Cattle Run Farm raises pork and beef cattle for direct and wholesale, and they produce and sell jams and jellies with native plants. 

Bramble Hollow Farm in Bedford County, VA raises pork and chicken on pasture, builds wildlife habitat, sells in diverse markets, and shares their journey and insights in the Soil for Water case study video.