Nicole Masters on the Soilmentor app: What we learned

Nicole explains how to use the app to improve soil health through regenerative farming

"Sometimes when we're going through people's soils, I think of it as ruffling through their underpants drawer,” says world-renowned agroecologist and regenerative farming adviser Nicole Masters.

“We really are looking at your most hidden place and often one that people don't look at at all.”

Nicole Masters is a world-renowned agroecologist

However, for all regenerative farmers, soil health is one of the key indicators of their progress. Gauging its ongoing improvement - or decline - is essential.

To help with this process, Regenerate Outcomes gives our member farms access to the Soilmentor app, which allows you to understand what healthy soil looks like on your farm by monitoring key data and gathering observations over time.

Soilmentor has been working with Nicole to develop the Soilmentor Regen Platform.

The platform allows farmers to track 10 ‘regen indicators’, including factors such as water infiltration, earthworm activity, rooting depth and Brix barometers.

Last month, over 100 people registered to attend our webinar with Nicole, as she went through real-world data from some of our member farms and how this could be used to guide their regenerative farming practices.

“I think it's really important that if we're doing the sampling and using Soilmentor that we realise that what we're looking at is just one moment in time and we don't know if the system is moving forwards or backwards,” says Nicole.

“It’s really important to come back at the same time next year and repeat your sampling and this is going to give you much more in-depth insights.”

In the first year of using Soilmentor, Nicole says you can learn a lot by comparing the data and observations from your worst performing soil to your best.

"How do I make my worst soil look like my best? And how do I make my best better? That's going to give you more of a comparison, especially in the first year when we haven't got historical data to compare to,” she says.

"By comparing best performing or worst performing, it means that you can see that something's starting to decline and you can quickly change grazing or think about plant selection. This can be a really valuable tool.”

‘Digging holes can become addictive’

Nicole says farmers should try and do this for all the different soil types they have and repeat the process every year in the same place. Spring or autumn are often a good time to do it so that the soil is neither too wet nor too dry.

“Digging holes can start to become addictive,” says Nicole.

“So just go start digging holes and start noticing where you see areas that are performing well. Where are you seeing areas that are declining in production? What is the difference and what can you do about it?”

Training for regenerative farmers

Regenerate Outcomes offers a long-term education-based approach to regenerative farming, teaching you the principles through one-to-one mentoring and online workshops.