{"id":{"repo_id":"cornell","oai_identifier":"oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/120656"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cornell/oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/120656","repository":{"repo_id":"cornell","name":"Cornell University","base_url":"https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Disentangling Perceived and Measured Soil Health in New York City Urban Farms","abstract":"Soil contamination is often addressed by constructing new compost-based soils for urban agriculture. We examined these constructed soils to assess soil health across a diversity of farming sites across New York City, consulting with farmers to characterize their soils as “healthy” or “unhealthy” based on agricultural productivity. We analyzed these soils using the Cornell Comprehensive Assessment for Soil Health (CASH), characterized the soil microbiome, and conducted a taxonomic analysis of the soil invertebrate community. We found that farmers’ perceptions of soil health predicted differences in the bacterial community across all farms. The soil variables that consistently correlated with the biological communities in this study were respiration, pH, and magnesium. Many other soil variables affected the bacterial, fungal, and invertebrate communities individually; farmer perceptions of soil health were predictive of active carbon, organic matter, and predicted soil protein. Overall CASH ranked all sites highly regardless of farmer perceptions, indicating that standard soil health assessments may not fully capture key differences relevant to management of urban soils.","abstract_html":"Soil contamination is often addressed by constructing new compost-based soils for urban agriculture. We examined these constructed soils to assess soil health across a diversity of farming sites across New York City, consulting with farmers to characterize their soils as “healthy” or “unhealthy” based on agricultural productivity. We analyzed these soils using the Cornell Comprehensive Assessment for Soil Health (CASH), characterized the soil microbiome, and conducted a taxonomic analysis of the soil invertebrate community. We found that farmers’ perceptions of soil health predicted differences in the bacterial community across all farms. The soil variables that consistently correlated with the biological communities in this study were respiration, pH, and magnesium. Many other soil variables affected the bacterial, fungal, and invertebrate communities individually; farmer perceptions of soil health were predictive of active carbon, organic matter, and predicted soil protein. Overall CASH ranked all sites highly regardless of farmer perceptions, indicating that standard soil health assessments may not fully capture key differences relevant to management of urban soils.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chu-Jacoby, Ilexis"],"institution":"Cornell University","degree_name":"M.S., Horticulture","degree_level":"Master of Science","degree_discipline":"Horticulture","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Wickings, Kyle"],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-08","date_published":"2025-08","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:49:04Z","subjects":["Compost-based soil","Microbiology","Soil ecology","Soil health","Soil health assessment","Urban Agriculture"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7298/5ppd-xs29"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.7298/5ppd-xs29","href":"https://doi.org/10.7298/5ppd-xs29","code":true}]},{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["ProQuest Submission ID: 12550","ProQuest Publication ID: 32170605"],"render_values":[{"text":"ProQuest Submission ID: 12550","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"ProQuest Publication ID: 32170605","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1813/120656","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Wickings, Kyle"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chu-Jacoby, Ilexis"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-04-02T18:33:37Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-04-02T18:33:37Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["dissertation or thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Horticulture"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S., Horticulture"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Cornell University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Compost-based soil","Microbiology","Soil ecology","Soil health","Soil health assessment","Urban Agriculture"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7298/5ppd-xs29"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["ProQuest Submission ID: 12550","ProQuest Publication ID: 32170605"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1813/120656"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["62 pages","Supplemental file(s) description: Document containing supplemental figures."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Soil contamination is often addressed by constructing new compost-based soils for urban agriculture. We examined these constructed soils to assess soil health across a diversity of farming sites across New York City, consulting with farmers to characterize their soils as “healthy” or “unhealthy” based on agricultural productivity. We analyzed these soils using the Cornell Comprehensive Assessment for Soil Health (CASH), characterized the soil microbiome, and conducted a taxonomic analysis of the soil invertebrate community. We found that farmers’ perceptions of soil health predicted differences in the bacterial community across all farms. The soil variables that consistently correlated with the biological communities in this study were respiration, pH, and magnesium. Many other soil variables affected the bacterial, fungal, and invertebrate communities individually; farmer perceptions of soil health were predictive of active carbon, organic matter, and predicted soil protein. Overall CASH ranked all sites highly regardless of farmer perceptions, indicating that standard soil health assessments may not fully capture key differences relevant to management of urban soils."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Disentangling Perceived and Measured Soil Health in New York City Urban Farms"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Wickings, Kyle"],"dc:creator":["Chu-Jacoby, Ilexis"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-04-02T18:33:37Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-04-02T18:33:37Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-08"],"dc:description":["62 pages","Supplemental file(s) description: Document containing supplemental figures."],"dc:description.abstract":["Soil contamination is often addressed by constructing new compost-based soils for urban agriculture. We examined these constructed soils to assess soil health across a diversity of farming sites across New York City, consulting with farmers to characterize their soils as “healthy” or “unhealthy” based on agricultural productivity. We analyzed these soils using the Cornell Comprehensive Assessment for Soil Health (CASH), characterized the soil microbiome, and conducted a taxonomic analysis of the soil invertebrate community. We found that farmers’ perceptions of soil health predicted differences in the bacterial community across all farms. The soil variables that consistently correlated with the biological communities in this study were respiration, pH, and magnesium. Many other soil variables affected the bacterial, fungal, and invertebrate communities individually; farmer perceptions of soil health were predictive of active carbon, organic matter, and predicted soil protein. Overall CASH ranked all sites highly regardless of farmer perceptions, indicating that standard soil health assessments may not fully capture key differences relevant to management of urban soils."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.7298/5ppd-xs29"],"dc:identifier.other":["ProQuest Submission ID: 12550","ProQuest Publication ID: 32170605"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1813/120656"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:subject":["Compost-based soil","Microbiology","Soil ecology","Soil health","Soil health assessment","Urban Agriculture"],"dc:title":["Disentangling Perceived and Measured Soil Health in New York City Urban Farms"],"dc:type":["dissertation or thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Horticulture"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master of Science"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S., Horticulture"],"thesis:institution_name":["Cornell University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:49:04Z"}