TopSoil | Leading Soil Health Software
Farmers and landowners want healthier soil to improve yields and to provide long-term resiliency against drought, erosion, and other issues that can create disruptions in profits and production. A new soil health data platform can help them do just that. With the TopSoil Tool, producers can now track their data in real-time, using it to make economic management decisions or, even, show transparency within supply chain markets, which is becoming more valuable to both suppliers and consumers.
“TopSoil helps farmers improve their economic resiliency and environmental sustainability with unbiased soil health data,” says Mitchell Hora, president and CEO of Continuum Ag and co-host of the popular podcast, Field Work (pictured, left). “We created it as a way for farmers to customize regenerative farm management on their farms to drive up profits and crop production.”
“TopSoil helps farmers improve their economic resiliency and environmental sustainability with unbiased soil health data,” says Mitchell Hora, president and CEO of Continuum Ag and co-host of the popular podcast, Field Work. “We created it as a way for farmers to customize regenerative farm management on their farms to drive up profits and crop production.”
Created by Continuum Ag, an agricultural consulting company for farmers by farmers specializing in soil sampling and fertility recommendations, TopSoil is the only platform available where farmers can run recommendations based upon the Haney Test. The Haney Test was developed by Dr. Rick Haney, a research soil scientist at the USDA, over the course of many years of study. The test, which is a dual extraction procedure, analyzes a soil sample for total organic carbon and total organic nitrogen to figure out a C:N ratio that can be used to decide which type of cover crop will work best on that land.
“We have the largest dataset of Haney Soil Health data,” says Hora, “and we use the program to make informed recommendations about managing fertility and managing their farms and implementing regenerative systems.”
“Farmers own their data,” adds Hora. “TopSoil is built with the purpose of helping farmers understand and manage their data and use it not only as an agronomy management tool, but also as an ecosystem service marketing tool for generating carbon credits and connecting with supply chain companies.”
How does it work?
Once you’ve created a profile and uploaded some basic information about your acreage to the secure data platform, the TopSoil Tool takes the soil sample data, comparing and analyzing the data using Haney Test recommendations, university recommendations or, even, agriculture company recommendations. Consultants can even use the platform to reach out to growers within their network and send them recommendations based upon the data imputed into the TopSoil Tool. Once initial recommendations are returned, you can add more information about your acreage, including types of cover crops used, tillage systems used, types of fertilizer used, whether rotational grazing is now part of your farm management strategy and more. From there, your data will be stored and available to you for further custom, regenerative agriculture recommendations to improve your farm profits and outputs.
What about carbon markets?
Carbon is the buzz word these days. With the push for carbon removal and the influx of carbon markets, establishing regenerative agriculture projects that keeps the carbon in the soil is one of the best ways to be forward – and farmer–focused. While it’s obviously a focus of Continuum Ag and the TopSoil Tool, Hora says that what his product provides goes beyond “chasing that new carbon carrot.”
“Instead, we have the tools to help farmers make smarter, informed decisions for the long haul,” says Hora. “No matter what happens with carbon markets.”
By using the soil health recommendations customized to their actual fields, farmers are building the necessary long-term resiliency that will keep yields – and profits – positive no matter what happens to carbon markets or influxes in ecosystem service markets in the future.
“We launched our product barely a year ago and have already helped over a thousand subscribers in 40 states and 12 countries,” says Hora. “Stay tuned because we have several new features in development that will help farmers continue to improve their fields and yields.”
