The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA), in partnership with organizations statewide and the Gulf Hypoxia Program (GHP), is reopening its no‑cost initiative to expand the use of soil sampling as a nutrient management practice. Indiana’s Mississippi River Basin Soil Sampling Program is once again accepting applications.
The ISDA promotes the importance of nutrient management and the principles of the 4R Nutrient Stewardship framework, which emphasizes using the Right Source, Right Rate, Right Time and Right Place to meet crop production goals. Soil sampling and testing are central to that approach and serve as the first step in developing an effective nutrient management plan.
By assessing a field’s fertility, farmers can make informed fertilizer decisions, monitor nutrient levels over time, improve profitability, and reduce the risk of nutrient loss.
This program includes row crop fields, pastures, hay, and specialty crops located within Indiana’s portion of the Mississippi River Basin. This program is not open to hobby gardens and private lawns.
Eligible landowners will be prioritized by acreage enrolled (i.e., 100 acres or less), fields that have never been soil sampled, and fields that haven’t been sampled regularly (i.e., within the last 4 years). Further prioritization may be implemented based on ISDA’s workload capacity.
Sign-ups begin Monday, February 16th, 2026, and continue through Wednesday, April 8th, 2026, or until funds are exhausted.
For more information or to sign up, visit in.gov/isda/divisions/soil-conservation/indiana-soil-sampling-program/ or by reaching out to soilsampling@isda.in.gov.
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