Carbon & Soil Health Monitoring
In 2022, Capital RC&D was awarded funds from the Pennsylvania NRCS Conservation
Innovation Grant (CIG) Program to conduct the project, Monitoring of Carbon Sequestration for
Carbon Credit Development. The three year project used Teralytic soil probes and Cornell and
Penn State soil testing services to measure soil carbon and other soil health parameters. This
project will evaluate the testing methods and the impact of soil conservation techniques on soil
carbon levels.
New NRCS Conservation Evaluation and Management Assessment standards (Soil Health
Management Plan 116; Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Assessment
218/COMET-Farm Tool) was used to demonstrate how accepted NRCS technical tools can help
farmers plan and develop new systems that can measurably increase soil carbon. The Soil
Health Management Plan is very new and therefore has not been used extensively to date. The
COMET-Farm tool which is incorporated into the new Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse
Gas Mitigation Assessment 218 has been available for a number of years but is new to
Pennsylvania producers.
New soil monitoring tools and standards (TCP soil probe; NRCS Soil Health Testing 216, tests
to be done by Cornell Soil Health Testing Lab) were used to monitor changes in soil organic
carbon resulting from changes in management practices implemented as a result of the
planning component of the project. As both of these tools are very recent developments, there is
very little awareness of how they can be used to monitor soil carbon.
The project in general demonstrated applicability of new NRCS Conservation Evaluation and
Management Activity (CEMA) standards for planning and implementing new systems to
increase soil carbon.
Four farms in south central Pennsylvania participated in the project: one each in Adams,
Cumberland, Franklin and Lancaster county. Soil samples were taken and two teralytic
probes were placed in the ground at project locations. Project location on two farms were in
managed grazing pastures and two were in crop fields.
Overview of Results:
Our project design called for installation of Teralytic soil probes on four farms/two fields each, on
cropland and pasture soils common to southcentral Pennsylvania. We also planned for parallel
soil sampling using the NRCS Soil Health Testing CEMA 216 procedure with testing by Cornell
Soil Health Lab. Additional comparison soil testing done by Penn State Agricultural Analytic
Services Lab. Soil samples for lab soil testing were collected for the 0-6” soil profile depth
following each lab’s recommended procedure.
Soil samples were collected using those lab’s standard collection protocol, collecting samples
from 6-10 sample points along a planned route, aggregating those subsamples, and sending a
single sample for testing to the lab. Samples were collected in April 2023 at the beginning of the
project, and also in the last year in April 2025. Although not originally planned, additional
samples were also collected in 2024.
We regularly found differences in estimated SOC between the probes and the lab testing of soil
samples. Most commonly, SOC as estimated by the probes was less than SOC as measured
by soil tests. The two testing labs themselves were sometimes different, with the Cornell results
being slightly higher than Penn State. Probe results were generally less than either of the
testing labs. Initially Teralytic believed the differences were not statistically significant, or we
thought the probes were not working correctly. Both only partly explained the differences. The
key factor we found is that soil probes primarily represent SOC at the depth of the CO2 sensor
(4-6 inches), while soil samples were taken from the 0-6” layer. We were measuring two
different parts of the soil profile. There were other factors involved but this was the main one.
For indicators other than SOC, the probe may be a good tool to monitor indicators such as soil
biological activity, as indicated by the probe’s CO2 sensor at the 6” depth. We were not able in
the scope of this project to explore that.
Innovation Grant (CIG) Program to conduct the project, Monitoring of Carbon Sequestration for
Carbon Credit Development. The three year project used Teralytic soil probes and Cornell and
Penn State soil testing services to measure soil carbon and other soil health parameters. This
project will evaluate the testing methods and the impact of soil conservation techniques on soil
carbon levels.
New NRCS Conservation Evaluation and Management Assessment standards (Soil Health
Management Plan 116; Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Assessment
218/COMET-Farm Tool) was used to demonstrate how accepted NRCS technical tools can help
farmers plan and develop new systems that can measurably increase soil carbon. The Soil
Health Management Plan is very new and therefore has not been used extensively to date. The
COMET-Farm tool which is incorporated into the new Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse
Gas Mitigation Assessment 218 has been available for a number of years but is new to
Pennsylvania producers.
New soil monitoring tools and standards (TCP soil probe; NRCS Soil Health Testing 216, tests
to be done by Cornell Soil Health Testing Lab) were used to monitor changes in soil organic
carbon resulting from changes in management practices implemented as a result of the
planning component of the project. As both of these tools are very recent developments, there is
very little awareness of how they can be used to monitor soil carbon.
The project in general demonstrated applicability of new NRCS Conservation Evaluation and
Management Activity (CEMA) standards for planning and implementing new systems to
increase soil carbon.
Four farms in south central Pennsylvania participated in the project: one each in Adams,
Cumberland, Franklin and Lancaster county. Soil samples were taken and two teralytic
probes were placed in the ground at project locations. Project location on two farms were in
managed grazing pastures and two were in crop fields.
Overview of Results:
Our project design called for installation of Teralytic soil probes on four farms/two fields each, on
cropland and pasture soils common to southcentral Pennsylvania. We also planned for parallel
soil sampling using the NRCS Soil Health Testing CEMA 216 procedure with testing by Cornell
Soil Health Lab. Additional comparison soil testing done by Penn State Agricultural Analytic
Services Lab. Soil samples for lab soil testing were collected for the 0-6” soil profile depth
following each lab’s recommended procedure.
Soil samples were collected using those lab’s standard collection protocol, collecting samples
from 6-10 sample points along a planned route, aggregating those subsamples, and sending a
single sample for testing to the lab. Samples were collected in April 2023 at the beginning of the
project, and also in the last year in April 2025. Although not originally planned, additional
samples were also collected in 2024.
We regularly found differences in estimated SOC between the probes and the lab testing of soil
samples. Most commonly, SOC as estimated by the probes was less than SOC as measured
by soil tests. The two testing labs themselves were sometimes different, with the Cornell results
being slightly higher than Penn State. Probe results were generally less than either of the
testing labs. Initially Teralytic believed the differences were not statistically significant, or we
thought the probes were not working correctly. Both only partly explained the differences. The
key factor we found is that soil probes primarily represent SOC at the depth of the CO2 sensor
(4-6 inches), while soil samples were taken from the 0-6” layer. We were measuring two
different parts of the soil profile. There were other factors involved but this was the main one.
For indicators other than SOC, the probe may be a good tool to monitor indicators such as soil
biological activity, as indicated by the probe’s CO2 sensor at the 6” depth. We were not able in
the scope of this project to explore that.
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The final report for this project is available here.
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Photos courtesy of Teralytic, manufacturer of the wireless soil probes utilized in this project.
Carbon Monitoring Project Partners
Capital RC&D
Climate Smart Environmental Consulting, LLC
EQT Corporation
Team Ag, Inc.
Teralytic
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Pennsylvania
Climate Smart Environmental Consulting, LLC
EQT Corporation
Team Ag, Inc.
Teralytic
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Pennsylvania
