Joseph Amsili

Joseph Amsili is a Senior Extension Associate and Program Director for the New York Soil Health Program at Cornell University. He leads statewide efforts to advance soil health through applied research, extension, and farmer engagement. Joseph oversees key outreach initiatives, including the Soil Health and Climate Resiliency Field Day series and the NY Soil Health Specialist Training Series. He played a leading role in the development of Production Environment Soil Health Benchmarks, which provides NY specific interpretation of soil health based on climate, soil type, and cropping system context. This approach was adopted by NY State to align with the Soil Health and Climate Resiliency Act and to encourage adoption of soil health practices. His research interests include soil health, carbon sequestration, and cover crop root traits.

Selected Publications

Google Scholar Profile

• Rubio, V., J.P. Amsili, D.G. Rossiter, A. McDonald, H.M. van Es, 2025. Mapping soil health at regional scale: Disentangling drivers and predicting spatial land use effects. Geoderma.
• Veum, K.S. … J.P Amsili, …, H.M. van Es, et al., 2025. Spatially explicit SHAPE model. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.
• Amsili, J.P., van Es, H.M., Schindelbeck, R.R., 2025. Pedotransfer Functions for Soil Protein Based on Random Forest Modeling for Routine Soil Health Analysis. Comm. in Soil Sci. and Plant Analysis. 56, 1381–1393.
• Amsili, J.P., van Es, H.M., Schindelbeck, R.R., 2024. Pedotransfer Functions for Field Capacity, Permanent Wilting Point, and Available Water Capacity Based on Random Forest Models for Routine Soil Health Analysis. Comm. in Soil Sci. and Plant Analysis 55, 1967-1984.
• Aller, D., J.P. Amsili, H.M. van Es, 2024. Cross-correlating soil aggregate stability methods to facilitate universal interpretation. Ag. & Environ. Lett. 9 (2).
• Nunes, M.R., … J.P Amsili, H.M. van Es, et al., 2024. SHAPEv1.0 Scoring curves and peer group benchmarks for dynamic soil health indicators. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 88, 858-875.
• Chalal, I., J.P. Amsili, … H.M. van Es, …, 2024. Soil organic carbon to clay ratio in different pedoclimatic and agronomic conditions in Northeastern North America: A new approach proposed. Geoderma Reg. 39, e00893.
• Amsili, J.P., van Es, H.M., Aller, D.M., Schindelbeck, R.R., 2023. Empirical approach for developing production environment soil health benchmarks. Geoderma Reg. 34, e00672.
• Wilhelm, R.C., Amsili, J.P., Kurtz, K.S.M., van Es, H.M., Buckley, D.H., 2023. Ecological insights into soil health according to the genomic traits and environment-wide associations of bacteria in agricultural soils. ISME Comm. 3(1), 1.
• Zhang, J., … Amsili, J.P., Schneider, R.L., van Es, H.M., …, 2023. Applicability of soil health assessment for wheat-maize cropping systems in smallholders’ farmlands. Ag., Ecosystems & Environ. 353, 108558.
• King, A.E., Amsili, J.P., …, 2023. A soil matrix capacity index to predict mineral-associated but not particulate organic carbon across a range of climate and soil pH. Biogeochemistry 165(1), 1-14.
• Zhang, Z., …, Amsili, J.P., …., 2022. Cover crop functional types differentially alter the content and composition of soil organic carbon in particulate and mineral-associated fractions. Global Change Biol. 28(19), 5831-5848.
• Amsili, J.P., H.M. van Es, and R.R. Schindelbeck. 2021. Cropping system and soil texture impact soil health outcomes and scoring functions. Soil Sec. J. 4.
• Nunes, M.R., …, J.P Amsili, H.M. van Es, et al., 2021. The soil health assessment protocol evaluation applied to soil organic carbon. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 85 (4), 1196-1213.
• Amsili, J.P. and J. Kaye. 2020. Root traits of cover crops and carbon inputs in an organic grain rotation. Renewable Ag. and Food Syst. 1-10.