Spring soil report — what the cover crop did.
Five years into the no-synthetic transition. Organic matter is up across all blocks, but the year-three plateau on the upper field was real, and we’ve changed our rotation because of it.
We pulled cores from all 14 blocks the second week of April. Lab turnaround was eight days; results landed last Friday. Headline: organic matter is up from a 2018 baseline of 3.1% to a 2025 average of 4.8%. That’s in line with what the regenerative-ag literature predicts for a Med-climate row-crop operation on our transition timeline. We’re pleased; we’re also not going to pretend it was a straight line.
The year-three plateau
The upper field — Blocks 9 through 14, ~180 acres — sat flat at 3.9% from late 2021 through early 2024. We knew it intellectually (the cover-crop biomass was lower than the lower fields) but we didn’t change the rotation. We assumed the slope would catch up. It didn’t.
What broke the plateau, in late 2024, was switching the upper field’s winter cover from a single-species rye to a five-species mix (rye + vetch + clover + radish + buckwheat). Mid-2024 cores already showed the trajectory turning. The April 2025 numbers confirm it: Block 11 is at 4.4% and climbing.
What we’re changing
Three operating changes for the 2025/26 season, in order of importance:
- Five-species mix on every winter cover, every block. The cost increase is $14/acre; the soil-health response justifies it on the 2024 evidence alone.
- Annual core sampling, not biennial. We were sampling every other year to save lab budget. We missed the plateau by one cycle. Annual is $3,200/yr extra; we’re wearing it.
- Block-level reporting on the website. Up to now we’ve published farm-wide averages quarterly. From Q3 we’ll publish per-block, with the rotation history attached. Restaurant partners asked for it; it’s a fair ask.
What we’re not doing
We’re not certifying organic. We’ve looked at it again this year. The certification doesn’t require the practices we care most about (cover-cropping, rotational grazing, soil-test publication) and does require some we don’t — and the auditor cost would buy a lot of cover-crop seed. The honest reporting on this page is the substitute. If a buyer needs the certificate, we’re not their farm; we’ll point them to two cooperative members who do hold it.
Q3 numbers post in early August. — Reza
The data
0%
Organic matter avg
Up from 3.1% baseline (2018)
0
Blocks tested
All 14, full rotation
0 species
Cover-crop mix
From single-species rye
0 /yr
Extra lab budget
For annual vs biennial
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