NRM’s annual interactive soil summary updated for 2021-2022

NRM has updated its interactive soil map alongside its annual soil summary report for last year. This allows farmers to drill down into crop type and nutrient summaries for their region and county for more relevant data.

The interactive map follows the recent publication of NRM’s 2021-2022 soil summary with consolidated, anonymised data from thousands of soil samples from farms across the UK collected between June 2021 to May 2022. The interactive map allows farmers and their advisors to select a region and then a county to localise their nutrient summary. Data for phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and pH is split out by arable and grassland and summarised according to the 9^th edition of the RB209.

‘This soil summary has once again confirmed a trend that we’ve observed for the last 30 years: that most soils are deficient in the three key nutrients,’ said Sajjad Awan, Soil and Crop Nutrition Agronomist at NRM. ‘It’s also interesting to look at trends and variations across the different regions in the UK to see how we’re doing on a more specific level. For example, while arable soils in Dorset in the South West of England are high in phosphorus and soil pH, those in Worcestershire in the West Midlands are low in phosphorus and middling in soil pH.’

Viewing the consolidated data in this way is more relevant to farms and their conditions than ever before. By understanding the current nutrient status of their soils and how their farms compare to others in their area, farmers and advisors can use the data to make insightful decisions about the next year of farming and beyond, leading to enhanced performance.

‘At Cawood, we understand the importance of sharing insightful information gathered from farms across the UK with the rest of the industry, as it helps build collective knowledge for widespread improvement,’ said Sean Stevenson, Commercial Director of Cawood Agriculture. ‘As the UK’s leading provider of agronomic analysis in the UK, Cawood is in a unique position to gather a large amount of soil and crop data for representative results. The interactive soil map is a handy, innovative solution for our customers to easily see how they compare with the rest of the UK, help them meet their goals, and transition to more sustainable and productive practices.’

View the interactive soil map here.