“The old saying goes that ‘turnover is vanity, profit is sanity’ and this is just as true in farming as any other business. With so many farmers living on such tight margins, a sudden spike in overheads can soon begin to whittle away profits, with all the headaches and stress that brings.

“For those who are heavily dependent on bought-in inputs, such as fertiliser and diesel, global events that are out of your control can suddenly mean the difference between being in the red or the black.

“The good news is that it is possible to reduce this dependence by adopting regenerative principles to improve soil health.”

“I like the fact that the mentoring Regenerate Outcomes are offering is based on farmers helping farmers, whereas the UK agriculture advice industry is very much led by suppliers.

“Those who sell you feed will tell you how much you need feed and those who sell fertiliser will tell you you need fertiliser. “It’s good to bring some independence back to that and empower farmers to make decisions for themselves.

“A lot of farmers just run on prescriptions but it’s good to bring back the profession of agriculture and enable them to make decisions for themselves.”

No-till is one of the key principles of regenerative agriculture in an arable context. However, minimising ploughing is rarely enough to build soil health, resilience and carbon on its own.

In our latest recording for Grounded ‘Live’, soil microbiologist Kyle Richardville and beef, sheep and arable farmer Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, were joined by an expert panel to discuss regenerative techniques and practices in arable.

The conversation covered everything including equipment, cover cropping, yield versus profit and advice for beginning to make changes on your own farm.

“Soil wasn’t something I worried about for most of my farming life.

“After experimenting with strip tillage about 13 years ago, I began to see it as the primary resource on any farm, and both the fundamental cause - and ultimate solution - to so many of the issues we face.

“Looking after your soil means looking after your bottom line, your crops and livestock, and ultimately yourself.

“As farmers, we can’t afford to see our primary resource washed or blown away. By improving soil health, we start to see real gains in resilience, profitability and time management.”

In the first episode of our Grounded ‘Live’ sessions, we brought together an expert panel to discuss soil carbon baselines and everything you need to know about generating income from your soil.

Regular Grounded hosts Kyle Richardville and farmer Stuart Johnson, from our mentoring team, were joined by Regenerate Outcomes Chief Scientific Officer Matt Jordon and Director Tom Dillon.

In addition, they were also joined by Luke Baldwin, CEO of Nature Broking, and Wiltshire farmer George Hosier, who is also a member of our mentoring team.

Regenerate Outcomes is working alongside the University of Oxford to support a study to identify the effects of adaptive multi-paddock grazing (AMP) on soil biodiversity.

PhD student Max Hadoke has taken samples from plots on 12 farms which are part of Regenerate Outcomes to compare earthworm populations in set-stocked and AMP grazed fields. 

His studies are being funded through the Natural Environment Research Council by a doctoral training partnership in Oxford.

Regenerate Outcomes have committed three years of funding as his Collaborative Award in Science and Engineering partner.

Regenerate Outcomes is committed to maximising value for farmers by building soil health.

As well as improving crop and livestock performance, reducing inputs, cutting costs and growing profits, this value also comes from providing high integrity soil carbon baselining and measurement.

The more robust the baselining and measurement process, the higher the value of the carbon credits you can generate.

This is why we work with Agricarbon, who combine thorough physical soil sampling with state-of-the-art laboratory analysis to meet the internationally recognised Verified Carbon Standard.

This autumn and winter, Regenerate Outcomes is excited to invite you to Grounded 'Live', a series of live, online discussions bringing farmers together to dig deeper into regenerative agriculture.

Join 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year Stuart Johnson and soil microbiologist Kyle Richardville - from our mentoring team - as they invite guests to share their knowledge and advice.

For the first time, you’ll be able to hear Stuart and Kyle’s conversations live and ask questions as they speak with their guests.

If you are looking for reasons to be hopeful, there are few better places to go than Groundswell. 

Regenerate Outcomes have had a stand at Groundswell - the regenerative agriculture festival - since 2023. It has been truly inspiring to see it get bigger and better each year, reflecting the growth of our own team and the number of farms we work with.

Last week over 8000 people came to Lannock Farm, where we laid out our stall next to our mentoring partners Understanding Ag. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Understanding Ag co-founder Gabe Brown, author of Dirt to Soil  and one of the biggest names in regen.