What are resilient grassland soils?

Discover how resilient grassland soils can help improve productivity, sustainability and climate resilience across your farming system.

Resilient grassland soils are healthy soils that have:

• The right chemical balance of pH and nutrients for plant growth
• Good physical structure and drainage
• Active biological life, such as roots and soil organisms

This balance helps soil remain productive while coping with challenges including drought, heavy rain and the pressure from livestock and machinery.

As the climate continues to change, grassland farming systems face increased pressure from unpredictable weather patterns, including more frequent droughts, intense rainfall and fluctuating temperatures.

Building resilience in your grassland soils will help support sustainable and productive farming systems that are better equipped to enable the following:

• Increase your grazing period
• Increase your forage yield
• Produce higher-quality forage
• Maintain a higher retention of sown species
• Increase soil biodiversity
• Reduce flooding after extreme rainfall
• Reduce soil erosion
• Reduce pollution from run-off
• Retain moisture in soil during dry conditions

Resilient grassland soils are built by understanding, monitoring and taking practical actions to maintain and improve their physical, biological and chemical properties.

Regular assessments will help you identify which actions will have the most positive impact on each of these key areas.