With the first part of the government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive due to open at the end of June, the crop production specialist, Hutchinsons, is helping farmers to meet the requirements for the Arable & Horticultural Soils Standard and Grassland Standard; by adding a soil management function to its Omnia digital farming platform.
“Omnia provides a management platform to complete all of the SFI Soils Standard requirements in a functional and easy way, allowing you to improve your soil health and gain your SFI Soils Standard payment,” says agronomist Rebecca Firth.
The SFI Soils Standard scheme aims to improve soil health, structure, organic matter and biology, on arable, horticultural and grass land, so the Omnia changes ‘come at an ideal time for growers planning to sign up’ to the SFI scheme, said Ms Firth.
The application window for the first two tiers of the SFI Soils Standard (Introductory and Intermediate levels) opens soon. The Omnia platform’s newest functions can record all the information that farmers need to comply with the two SFI Soils levels, and data is now more accessible and easier to use.
Omnia’s new functions include:
- Soil structure/Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS)
- Soil management plan, with suggested management actions
- Soil analysis results (either from own tests or agronomist-led services such as Healthy Soils)
- Erosion risk map (wind/water erosion risk)
- Cropping map
- Many further layers and options
The update has also simplified the iPhone app, to which users can upload VESS tests, worm counts, pictures and notes – from the field. Plus, the device’s in-built GPS allows the precise geotagging of information and pictures. Then, “information is immediately available on the web-based platform,” notes Ms Firth, so users can continue with their detailed mapping and data analysis.
Once data is logged, farmers can generate a pdf report which summarises all of the information required to comply with the SFI Soils Standard, with users having complete freedom to select what they want to show in the report.
Getting on the ‘soil health ladder’
Ms Firth said that the government’s SFI is all about getting farmers into soil health – it is ‘the starting point from which to build from’. And, with the payments made available by the SFI Soils Standard much lower than originally proposed, Ms Firth concludes that growers will see the most benefits in the long-term improvements to their soil health.
“That may involve changes to cultivation practises, altering fertiliser and nutrition strategies, altering crop rotation, or bringing in cover crops, manures or other sources of organic matter. It’s about building a more regenerative approach across many different aspects of soil management;” to use inputs more efficiently, potentially reducing costs, while maximising yields.
With that, the Omnia soil management plan will help farmers to monitor or see where any changes may be needed. Moreover, “the plan has been developed in a way that makes it simple for anyone to demonstrate they are meeting the minimum requirements of the SFI scheme, while also making it easy to go into far greater detail at any stage of the process. Whether that is the soil assessments being made, or the management options being implemented,” concluded Ms Firth.