29 million acres of Pennsylvania’s greatest natural resource
There are 29 million acres (11, 735, 884 hectares) of soil in Pennsylvania supporting: wild areas; agricultural areas producing crops, animals, wood products and horticultural goods; homes, roads, and businesses; our drinking and wastewater filtration. Without soil, these activities and functions would be much more difficult and in some cases even impossible, for soil is as precious to our lives as the very blood in our bodies.
The Penn State Soil Characterization Laboratory has a long history of studying how soil affects the lives of the state’s citizens and how people have, and are today, changing the state’s soils. While the lab’s research focuses largely on Pennsylvania soil issues, we have conducted work regionally, nationally, and internationally.
