text: The preferred scenario for good tilth is as the result of natural soil-building processes, provided by the activity of plant roots, microorganisms, earthworms and other beneficial organisms. Such stable aggregates break apart during tillage/planting and readily provide good tilth. Soil biota and organic matter work in unison to bind soil aggregates and establish a natural soil stability – a soil carbon sponge. Plant root exudates feed bacteria that emit extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), and feed the growth of fungal hyphae, to form a soil carbon sponge with the dispersed clay particles.  These active tilth-forming processes contribute to the formation and stabilization of soil structure. The resulting soil structure reduces tensile strength and soil-bulk density while still forming soil aggregates through their abiotic/biotic binding mechanisms that resist breakdown during water saturation. The fungal hyphae networks can establish a role of enmeshment with EPS and rhizodeposition, thus improving aggregate stability. However, these organic materials are themselves subject to biological degradation, requiring active amendments with organic material, and minimal mechanical tillage. Tilth quality is heavily dependent on these naturally binding processes between biotic microorganisms and abiotic soil particles, as well as the necessary input of organic matter. All constituents in this naturally binding network must be supplied or managed in agriculture to ensure the sustainability of their presence through growing seasons.