GREATsoils: Have you got the right tools for the job?

Whether you’re looking to improve productivity, increase efficiency, build resilience, boost profitability or reduce risk, your soil has a major role to play in helping you achieve them.

However, before reaching for a soil test or measuring spade, it’s worth asking a more fundamental question: What do you need your soil to do for your business?

That’s the starting point of our new GREATsoils toolkits, a collection of practical resources designed to help farmers make informed soil management decisions.

The first toolkit focuses on understanding soil function and setting clear objectives before moving on to measuring and monitoring soil health.

Katie Evans, Senior Engagement Manager (Beef & Lamb) at AHDB, said:

"Understanding the role soil plays in your farming system helps ensure any measurements you take are relevant and useful, rather than collecting data without a clear purpose."

Healthy soil looks different on every farm. What’s right for one enterprise, field or farming system may not be right for another.

Factors such as soil type, climate, enterprise, field use and business goals all influence what good soil function looks like.

Rather than aiming for a single definition of soil health, focus on whether your soils are helping you achieve your own objectives.

Not every soil assessment starts with a laboratory test. A simple walk around the farm can provide valuable insights into how soils are functioning.

Observations such as water movement, rooting depth, earthworm activity and grass growth can help identify both strengths and constraints.

Well-functioning soils support many of the outcomes farmers are striving to achieve:

• Productivity through improved crop and grass growth
• Efficiency by making better use of nutrients and water
• Resilience during periods of drought or heavy rainfall
• Profitability through improved output and resource use
• Risk management by reducing issues such as compaction, erosion and nutrient losses

Katie said:

"Soils are at the heart of many business objectives.

"Whether the goal is improving productivity, making better use of inputs, increasing resilience to weather extremes or reducing business risk, understanding how your soil supports those objectives is an important first step."

If you missed the launch webinar on 27 October, you can catch up by watching the recording (YouTube).

During the webinar, we introduced the GREATsoils programme and explored why understanding soil function and setting clear objectives should come before measuring soil health.

The next webinar in the series is on 13 January 2027. We’ll explore practical soil management options and how to match them to your soil type, farming system and business objectives.

Katie concluded:

“Before reaching for a soil test, reach for a clear objective.

"Healthy soils look different on every farm. The important question isn’t whether your soil meets a single definition of soil health, but whether it is helping your business achieve its goals."