Soil testing supports the growth and expansion of community gardens by protecting the health and safety of the food produced in these gardens. In partnership with Cornell Nutrient Analysis Lab, eligible community gardens in New York State can send soil samples for testing up to one time per year without charge. The soil test will analyze samples for heavy metals and agronomic nutrient analyses. Technical support and education for participating growers will be provided by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest New York team.

A total funding amount of $40,000 is available to process up to 1,000 soil tests.

One soil test will be made available to eligible applicants in order of receipt of complete applications, until funding is exhausted. Entities with multiple gardens must submit one application per garden.

Participating growers are only responsible for the shipping costs to the Cornell Nutrient Analysis Lab in Ithaca, NY.

Applications will be accepted from March 13, 2024, until funding is exhausted.

Applications can be downloaded from The Department’s Urban Agriculture and Community Gardens webpage: https://agriculture.ny.gov/community-gardens-and-urban-agriculture .

All interested applicants must email the PDF application and proof of eligibility documents to: urbanagriculture@agriculture.ny.gov with the subject: “2024 Community Gardens Soil Test Application”.