NRM, an independent provider of agronomic and environmental waste analysis for land-based industries, has updated its interactive soil map alongside its annual soil summary report for last year to help UK growers benchmark results against other farms in the same region with the same soil types and climatic conditions.
Soil and Crop Nutrition Agronomist Sajjad Awan said the summary has again confirmed the trend seen over the past 30 years that soils are deficient in the three key nutrients, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium.
The map and summary include consolidated, anonymised data from thousands of soil samples collected between June 2023 to May 2024 from farms across the UK. By selecting their region and county, growers and advisors can localise nutrient summaries, gaining information and insights tailored to their specific needs. Data for phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and pH is split out by arable and grassland and summarised according to the 9th edition of the RB209.
Sajjad said: “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 local level. An interesting insight is that we have seen large regional variation in soil phosphorus levels, influenced by a variety of geological factors, land management, crop and nutrient management practices.
“For example, available phosphorus levels are low in Yorkshire, potentially due to the region’s higher soil pH as a result of chalky boulder soils locking up the nutrient with calcium. In the South East, in contrast, we have seen higher phosphorus levels. This likely reflects more frequent fertiliser use, including inorganic and organic forms such as biosolids, probably driven by the need to support high-value cropping systems.”
