Our approach
A unique regenerative farming intelligence
It is easy to spot a BlackSoil farmer
Your most important input is sunlight
The whole farming practice changes when you say: “I harvest sunlight” – you have much more opportunities to grow, graze and regenerate with this mindset.
Your No. 1 commodity is soil carbon
Having a bumper yield is great, but having a profitable business every year, no matter how the climate or the market changes – this makes soil carbon a valuable asset.
Your best equipment is your mind
There is no compaction in your soil that you cannot fight if you overcome the compaction in your mind. You will work less in the field, but think more and do more.
Regenerative agriculture is about using all the resources that would be lost otherwise. Sunlight is the most important of these.
Plants convert the energy of the Sun to chemical energy when they make sugars, water and oxygen from carbon-dioxide. Since the light energy and CO2 are available at your fields all year long, by revving up the process of photosynthesis you can convert your farm into a fully recycling solar powerhouse.
Going from “harvesting crops” to “harvesting sunlight” takes time, however, once you view your farm through these glasses, you will see dozens of wasted opportunities: windows to plant cover crops, graze your fields or produce organic nitrogen with legumes.
As soon as you get into the “sunlight business”, you also step into the “carbon business”. Thanks to the liquid carbon pathway, cash crops and cover crops pump the absorbed carbon-dioxide into the soil where it gets converted into long-lasting forms of organic matter and humus.
Soil organic matter (SOM) improves soil structure, eliminating the need for cultivation. The higher the SOM level, the more precipitation your soils can store. In the era of thunderstorms, it is crucial to keep every raindrop where it falls.
Besides water cycle, SOM also boosts the nutrient cycle, holding nutrients in the root zone and converting them to plant-available forms thanks to the soil microbes. All these help you to cut your costs and stabilize your yields amidst the fluctuations of the climate and markets.
It does sound risky to change the way you farm and to embark on a journey with pitfalls and hardships. The great thing about regenerative agriculture is that it works on all soil types and in all climate zones and for all crops. However, you can’t buy soil life and healthy soil, and you can’t adopt the technology from your neighbour – you have to find the way that suits your operation.
We are here to help you with a team of trained educators and a network of like-minded farmers, combining it into a program which guides you through the rough part of regenerative agriculture.
The dimensions of carbon drawdown
gigatons CO2 reduced and sequestered by 2050
billion USD lifetime net operational savings
billion USD lifetime net profit (see source)
How the BlackSoil program works
Our regenerative transition program gives you an easy-to-follow roadmap. When enrolling, you start in Ground Zero and advance from there. There is no backward movement between the horizons, and you can spend a maximum of 3 years in each horizon. All horizons end with a closing soil test and in-field assessment. The maximum length of the program is 10 years per cycle.
Ground Zero (year 1)
- baseline assessment compared to regional values and past 5 years of the farm (business-as-usual, BAU for short)
- create a regenerative transition plan (roadmap) on a farm level
- conduct baseline soil sampling in 5 hectare units based on productivity zones (soil carbon %, soil health score, bacteria-to-fungi ratio)
- conduct in-field water infiltration test
- full stop of conventional soil cultivation methods (plowing, spading)
Horizon One (year 2-4)
- soil surface cover must be at least 30%
- retention of residues on the field
- cover crops must be applied between summer harvests and spring plantings – 300 days of living roots on 40% of all fields
- maximum 3 soil cultivation steps between 2 cash crops
- closing soil sampling results must show an increase in all parameters (soil carbon %, soil health score, bacteria-to-fungi ratio)
- complete soil metagene analysis done at the end of this horizon
- in-field water infiltration test must show an increase
Horizon Two (year 5-7)
- soil surface cover must be at least 50%
- retention of residues on the field
- cover crops must be applied between 60% of cash crops – 300 days of living roots on 60% of the fields
- cover crops before spring planting must be left intact at least until February 28th
- maximum 2 soil cultivation steps between 2 cash crops
- soil sampling results must show an increase in all parameters (soil carbon %, soil health score, bacteria-to-fungi ratio)
- in-field water infiltration test must show an increase
Horizon Three (year 8-10)
- soil surface cover must be at least 80%
- retention of residues on the field
- cover crops must be applied between 80% of cash crops – 300 days of living roots on 80% of the fields
- cover crops before spring planting must be left intact at least until February 28th
- maximum 1 shallow soil cultivation step between 2 cash crops or complete no-till (direct drill) technology
- soil sampling results must show an increase in all parameters (soil carbon %, soil health score, bacteria-to-fungi ratio)
- complete soil metagene analysis done at the end of this horizon
- in-field water infiltration test must show an increase
- nutrient use efficiency (NUE) must increase compared to BAU levels
- nitrogen usage must decrease compared to BAU levels
- pesticide usage must decrease compared to BAU levels
How do these horizons help my transition?
It’s a system
The transition to regenerative farming can be difficult and full of stuff-ups. That’s why we combined our knowledge and experience into one complete, step-by-step system.
Instant feedback
It is good to know that you are on the right way. The positive effects of our recommended practices are confirmed by in-field and laboratory tests, giving you a thumbs-up.
Better payouts
The higher horizon you are at, the more dedicated regen farmer you become. You will sequester more carbon and your credits will be more permanent, resulting in higher payments.