Groundswell 2024: Can Data Pave The Way For Regen Farming? A Personal Perspective.

Groundswell has quickly built its well-earned reputation for a vibrant event focused on knowledge exchange.

I attend last month for their 8th show and spoke to a range of guests – from arable farmers to environmental workers and PhD students... The atmosphere was a passionate space of in-depth discussion (and free ice cream).

Of course, regenerative farming is only-so if it regenerates. And the science on display set out to prove this is happening; including talks from regen guru John Kempf, and director of docuseries Roots so Deep Peter Byck.

The philosophy behind regenerative farming is simple: Focus on soil health, and the rest will follow. Farm with methods than include nature rather than working to exclude it.

However, the full transition away from conventional methods is far from complete. The biggest challenge to regen advocates remains simply proving that it can work, and, perhaps most importantly, that it’s cost effective. This is where data comes in.

The Importance of Data to Regen Farming

Peter Byck said that “data must be used to learn, adapt, save money and lighten workload” and highlighted how he’s using data capture to prove regen efficacy “rather than disprove” existing methods.

It's this data-led mindset that’s going to win or lose any battle between emerging ideas and the status quo. You must have data that justifies your decisions and proves the outcomes.

The phrase ‘what gets measured, gets managed’ still resonates. Without a starting baseline and accurate data around your current operation, how could you know whether any changes are making a positive or negative impact? And how could you prove those impacts to other stakeholders? You couldn’t.

John Kempf (below) took his discussion ‘Making Regen Work’ in the Big Top Tent one step further, with fully detailed analysis of many aspects of his regen operation backed by data. John says “you cannot guess when making agronomic decisions. Measure that which is possible.”

John’s systemic approach to soil health and plant nutrition is held to account by the data he produces and analyses. SAP Analysis, disease and insect susceptibility, soil microbiomes... all under the proverbial microscope of data analysis. The results of which offer a springboard to justify his claims and ideas.

Data in Action

Regardless of the corner of agriculture you call home, farm data is going to be a tool which can help you succeed. Not least as the cornerstone of effective farm benchmarking.

As harvest 2024 progresses, arable farmers can analyse their costs of production as soon as the yields leave the field – this in-season data is then used to guide sales strategies, ensuring healthy gross margins.

On the regenerative side, some growers have already allocated portions of their farms to regenerative methods, and the proof is going to be in the data they produce. Whether they’re measuring soil & plant health, pest and disease pressure or other metrics, the answers are in the data.

Data is not a stick to beat something with, it’s an opportunity to answer questions. Or, in other situations, an opportunity to consider results and actually start asking questions. 

Conclusion

If you’re an arable farmer and you’re looking to understand your operation and numbers in more detail, whether to transition to regen or for other reasons, you can schedule in a meeting with my colleague James who specialises in offering free demo’s of our tools and uncovering solutions for your business.