The Importance of Soil Health in Sustainable Farming

News - 04.12.24

Driving Resilience and Productivity through Soil Health

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) has placed soil health at the forefront of its environmental and productivity goals. Modules such as SAM1, SAM2, and SAM3 focus on enhancing soil resilience and functionality, offering financial rewards to growers who adopt practices that boost long-term soil productivity.

The Role of Soil Acidity in Soil Health

Maintaining optimal soil pH is critical for healthy soil functionality. Recent analysis, including data from the 2023 British Survey of Fertiliser Practice, highlights a troubling decline in UK soil pH levels from an optimal 6.7 to 6.3 over the past two decades.

Nutrients: Essential nutrients like phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium become less available in acidic soils.
Earthworms: Populations decline in soils with pH below 4.5, reducing organic matter breakdown and water infiltration.
Microbial Activity: Slows significantly, affecting nutrient cycling.

Solutions for Improving Soil Health

Agrii’s BASIS- and FACTS-qualified agronomists provide tailored solutions for improving soil health, including:

Comprehensive soil testing to assess pH, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium levels.
Precision lime application plans to restore pH and nutrient availability.

Using Agrii’s Contour platform, growers can upload soil sampling data, visualise nutrient maps, and develop variable rate lime application plans to achieve targeted improvements.

[Insert Figure 3: Colour-Coded Soil pH Map from Contour]

[Insert Table 1: Impact of Soil pH on NPK Utilisation]

Figure 1: Decline in Average UK Soil pH Over Time

Figure 2: Nutrient Availability at Different Soil pH Levels

Solutions for Improving Soil Health

Agrii’s BASIS- and FACTS-qualified agronomists provide tailored solutions for improving soil health, including:

Comprehensive soil testing to assess pH, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium levels.
Precision lime application plans to restore pH and nutrient availability.

Using Agrii’s Contour platform, growers can upload soil sampling data, visualise nutrient maps, and develop variable rate lime application plans to achieve targeted improvements.