What it is
The Haney Test is a soil health assessment developed by USDA-ARS scientist Rick Haney that measures both chemical and biological soil properties. Unlike standard soil tests that focus on nutrient availability, the Haney Test includes water-extractable organic carbon, water-extractable organic nitrogen, soil respiration (CO2 burst), and a calculated soil health score. It provides fertilizer recommendations based on what the soil biology can provide, not just what chemistry says is missing.
Why we picked this
Standard soil tests treat soil as a chemistry set. The Haney Test treats soil as a biological system. By measuring microbial respiration and organic nutrient pools alongside conventional chemistry, it reveals how much fertility the soil biology is already providing, often reducing fertilizer recommendations by 30-50%. For regenerative practitioners, it is the most informative single lab test available.
Key takeaways
- The Haney Test's soil health score (calculated from CO2 respiration, water-extractable C, and water-extractable N) provides a single biological health metric.
- Fertilizer recommendations based on Haney results typically call for 30-50% less synthetic input than standard tests suggest, because they account for biological nutrient cycling.
- The CO2 burst measurement indicates active microbial biomass, the most direct measure of biological activity available in a standard lab test.