Soil as an asset has been overlooked for too long and industry has undoubtedly woken up to that. It is the hot topic of the moment, and rightly so as it underpins everything we do; whether growing grass for livestock or planting seeds to grow grain or vegetables.

Soil varies with every step across a field, it changes each day in condition and behaves differently depending on rain or shine. The soil’s texture, based on its proportions of sand, silt and clay, dictates what you can do with it. It’s nutritional content, organic fraction and structural condition are all influenced by what activities have been carried out in it and therefore, importantly, what uses it can now be put to.

Post war UK agriculture is something of a victim of its own success; producing increasingly cheaper food and lowering the cost of production by striving for yield and specialisation, has come at a cost.

The impact of the past on today’s production can be surprisingly consistent year on year. Fisher German manage neighbouring farms under contract agreements that have different histories, different rotations and therefore different soil conditions; for the same management and level of input they consistently return a different output.

In one case, there is an 8% average difference in output between farms for the same level of input. This can have a major impact on the bottom line for a farming business for no apparent difference in cost or inputs.

With such advantages to be gained, we are seeking to understand how to monitor and make changes to affect these differences, our soils benchmarking and valuation analysis is helping to do just that.

Soils Matrix – how it works

Soil science is complex and we have developed a tool alongside the independent agronomy firm Indigro which we believe helps us to assess soil health, plan improvements and monitor them in a systematic way, adding value to farmland both in the medium and long term.

The Matrix programme applies a weighted score to the parameters chosen to be measured, and those scores are then factored to populate a total for that field or block.

The parameters chosen are those we deem to be essential to monitor the soil’s value, to protect that value for its owner or aim for its improvement, based on a skilled and detailed farm/ field/ soil survey. Each element has a scaling system behind the spreadsheet that builds the matrix and include soil classification, visual soil analysis, drainage, and laboratory soil analysis to understand the soil nutrient and organic matter levels.

In order to monitor change we revisit the holding four years after the initial inspection, with each change logged and the direction of travel through management demonstrated for each measurement. The overall weighted score is then calculated.

Costing the change

We measure and benchmark the condition score based on the matrix, then apply cost calculations as individual parameters alter. This might be to demonstrate the cost to rectify a change between two scores over time, or to set a theoretical optimum level for a certain soil that could be attained through management. We can then show what it would cost over time to get the soil into that condition.

Why should we act?

Over and above the financial benefits outlined above, soil health is gaining increased publicity and is making its way into the public domain through programmes like Kiss the Ground on Netflix. Perhaps more important from a financial perspective, the replacement farm subsidy is set to pay farmers public money for public good and soil is likely to be a high priority resource that farmers will be encouraged to protect and improve in return for payments.