N.Y. Agriculture & Markets Law § 151-l: Definitions

§ 151-l. Definitions. As used in this article: 1. "Soil health" means

soils that have the continuing capacity to function as a vital, living

ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. The benefits of

healthy soil include: supporting the production of food, feed, fiber,

and fuel; facilitating infiltration, storage and filtration of water and

protecting water quality; enhanced nutrient-holding capacity and

nutrient cycling; providing habitat for diverse soil organisms; enhanced

resilience to drought, extreme precipitation events, temperature

extremes, pests, diseases and other stresses; breaking down harmful

chemicals; reducing agricultural impacts on, and mitigating the impact

on agriculture of, global climate change; and sequestering carbon and

net long-term greenhouse gas benefits.

2. "Soil health practices" means agricultural and land management

practices that improve the function of soils through actions that follow

the principles of: minimizing soil disturbance from soil preparation;

maximizing soil vegetation cover; maximizing the diversity of beneficial

soil organisms; maximizing presence of living roots; and integrating

animals into land management; and in support of such principles, include

such practices as conservation tillage or no-till, cover-cropping,

precision nitrogen and phosphorous application, planned rotational

grazing, integrated crop-livestock systems, agroforestry, perennial

crops, integrated pest management, nutrient best management practices,

and those practices recommended by the United States Department of

Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and that are

supported by the state soil and water conservation committee.