Soil management or Soil management is the application of operations, practices and treatments to protect soil and improve its performance (such as soil fertility or soil mechanics). Includes soil conservation, soil amendment "Amendment (agriculture)") and optimal soil health. In agriculture, a certain amount of soil management, both non-organic and organic types, is needed to prevent agricultural land from becoming unproductive for decades. Organic farming in particular emphasizes optimal soil management, because it uses soil health as the exclusive or almost exclusive source of its fertilization and pest control.

Soil management is an important tool to address climate change by increasing soil carbon and also to address other important environmental problems associated with modern industrial agricultural practices. Project Drawdown highlights three main land management practices as feasible steps for climate change mitigation: improved nutrient management,[1]​ conservation agriculture (including no-till),[2]​ and the use of regenerative agriculture.[3]​.

According to the EPA, agricultural land management practices can lead to the production and emission of nitrous oxide ("Nitrogen(I) oxide") (NO), a major greenhouse gas and air pollutant. Activities that can contribute to NO emissions include fertilizer use, irrigation, and tillage "Tillage (agriculture)"). Soil management accounts for more than half of the agricultural sector's emissions. Beef cattle account for a third of emissions, through methane emissions. Manure management and rice cultivation also produce emissions.[4]​ The use of biochar can reduce NO emissions from soils by an average of 54%.[5]​.

Soils can sequester carbon dioxide (CO) from the atmosphere, primarily storing carbon as soil organic carbon (SOC) through the process of photosynthesis. CO can also be stored as inorganic carbon, but this is less common. Converting natural lands to agricultural lands releases carbon into the atmosphere. The amount of carbon that a soil can sequester depends on climate and current and historical land use and management.[6]​ Cropland has the potential to sequester 0.5 to 1.2 Pg C/year and grazing lands and grasslands could sequester 0.3 to 0.7 Pg C/year.[7]​ Agricultural practices that sequester carbon can help mitigate climate change.[8]​.

Methods that significantly improve soil carbon sequestration include no-till farming, residue mulching, cover cropping, and crop rotation, all of which are more widely used in organic farming than in conventional agriculture.[9]​[10]​ Because only 5% of U.S. farmland used (in the early 2000s) no-till and residue mulch, there is a large potential for carbon sequestration.[11] Similar practices have been proposed in Europe, such as converting arable land to grassland, crop residues and cover crops.[12]​.