Introduction

       Soil is the living skin of our planet, it is made of clay, silt, sand, organic materials, gasses, and nutrients. Soil is what the ground is made of, it is an important part of every ecosystem because organisms like plants depend on it for nutrients, but soil is not dirt. 

       Dirt is a general term for every thing from dust to soil, and soil is so much more. Soil is formed by a parent material, for example a bedrock, being worn down by weathering and erosion over time. This worn parent material mixes with organic materials and with the affects of the type of parent material, the influence of living organisms, topography, and time becomes soil. 

       Soil has many important traits like texture, color, structure, and pH. Soil texture is the composition of the soil in terms of what percents it is clay, silt, or sand. Clay heavy soils will hold water more tightly, making it difficult for the plants to use the water, while in contrast sandier soils will not be able to hold water. The best soils have loam, which is a proper mix of clay, silt, and sand. A soil's color tells you how nutrient rich a soil is. If a soil is a darker richer color it will have a higher mineral density and will therefore be better for growing plants in. A soils structure is how clumpy or campact the soil is and how much gas it can hold, looser soils that can hold more gas are healthier. The pH of a soil is affected by leaching and the cation exchange. In the cation exchange plants exchange H+ ions for nutrients from the soil, but too much exchange, or too much leaching causes soil to become acidic, which damages plants.

       Typical soils of our area have a dark brown color, are clumpy, and mostly consist of clay and silt with smaller amounts of sand. Hawaiian soil is very similar to ours, it is heavy in clay and silt and has a medium acidity, it also is clumpy and is a dark reddish brown. In contrast with Hawaiian soil, Arizona soil is very basic and heavy in alkaline. Arizona soil also has very high amounts of clay, is more compact, and has a light pink, tan, or grey color. Georgia soil is also heavy in clay and compact, but it also appears a red brown due to oxidization. Although similar all of these soils are differents and distinct to their region. 

       Because of these differences in the soils of each region, it is important for farmers to properly analyze their soil before planting in it. Soils with more loam and higher nutrient density are better for growing crops. Understanding the soil in their specific areas can help farmers save money by using only the fertilizers and pesticides needed for that area and in smaller amounts. This creates less fertilizer runoff into rivers and streams and decreases pollution, in turn helping the environment and everything that lives in it. Analyzing soil also allows farmers to make their land more productive by rotating crops and planting more than one species in a field. This makes the crops more sustainable and less prone to invasive species while preventing deforestation for agriculture. A proper analysis if soil can help a farmer become more environmentally sustainable and economically efficient.