Soil Health

Having a healthy soil is key to driving long term profitability on farm and by working with the Fane Valley Agronomy and Forage team we aim to help you build healthy soil. Soils across Northern Ireland vary from heavy clays to light sands. Each come with their own benefits and challenges which mean they need to be treated differently but all have potential to be a healthy and profitable.

Definition of a healthy soil?

Provide

As farmer’s we focus on our need for soils to provide an environment to grow healthy plants for harvest or to produce quality feed for our animals. However a more general term for soil health is one that is defined as the continued capacity for a soil to function as a living ecosystem that performs all of the functions above.

Indicators of soil health

Soil health can be divided into three groups which include physical, chemical and biological all of which are equally important in a healthy soil.

Physical

• Soil structure

• Water holding capacity

• Water infiltration

• Bulk density

How can we help?

Chemical

• Soil pH

• Nutrient fertility

• Balance of nutrients

• Cation exchange capacity

Biological

• Earthworm numbers

• Microbiology indicators

• Organic matter

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The Fane Valley Agronomy & Forage team can give advice identifying issues in your soil through our soil sampling service and physically examining your soil. We will then work with you to plan a healthy soil that will support your farming practices. This can be achieved through our range of seed mixtures, nutritional products and new range of biological products.