Welcome to the Regenerative Organic Hub’s Benchmarking Library! Benchmarking is the process of setting initial reference points for your farm and understanding the impact of farm management decisions. Benchmarking allows farmers to identify effective land management practices and make on-farm decisions that will regenerate their soil.
There are many reasons to establish a benchmark on your farm, but the goal is usually the same: it is to measure progress in key areas like carbon sequestration, water retention, and soil fertility. In a regenerative organic setting, benchmarks enable farmers to collaborate and share their stories on what works best, creating a community-driven model of continuous improvement.
Explore one of our curated step-by-step learning journeys, or scroll below to browse or search for benchmarking tools to support you wherever you are on your regenerative organic journey!
Learning Journeys
Our learning journeys are curated collections of educational content, designed to help you acquire knowledge and skills on a specific topic. To use the learning journeys to their full benefit, please follow along the steps detailed in each learning journey.
Start a learning journey and dive deeper into one of these regenerative organic topics:
Every tool in the Benchmarking Library below involves the discussion of one or more of the ecological processes. Below is a legend of icons to help you discover how each tool relates to the unique processes that are key characteristics of regenerative organic agriculture.
A baseline is a starting point or starting value. On a farm, it is the starting point before any modifications in farm management are made. Check out this guide for everything you need to know about baselines to get started!
"In the evolving landscape of regenerative agriculture, understanding the right metrics is vital for success. This article delves into the core 9 KPI metrics that every advisory business should track, including client satisfaction rates and crop yield improvements, while providing insights on how to accurately calculate them."
"McCain defines Regenerative agriculture as an ecosystem-based approach to farming that aims to improve farm resilience, crop yield and quality by improving soil health and water quality, optimizing water use, enhancing biodiversity, and reducing the impact of synthetic inputs."
Observing soil colour helps us understand the nutrient (mineral) cycle, the water cycle, and community dynamics. Read this guide to learn how to perform this monitoring technique.
Selecting sites for soil health monitoring helps you create a baseline to measure the impact of your regenerative organic efforts. Check out this resource to find out how we select sites in the Regenerative Organic Oats (ROO) Program and how you might be able to do the same on your farm.
Tissue sampling supports monitoring of nutrient/mineral cycling. It provides insights into plant nutrient uptake, which is influenced by soil fertility, biodiversity, and overall ecosystem productivity. Check out this guide to learn how to properly collect, prepare, and ship plant tissue samples for analysis by a lab.
Soil compaction is the compression of soil particles that reduces pore space in the soil - decreasing the infiltration of gases and water into the soil, leading to poor water uptake, poor nutrient cycling, increased difficulty for roots to penetrate deeper soil, and an overall reduction in crop yield.
Bulk density is a measurement of the weight of soil of a known volume. It can help us understand soil compaction and the amount of pore space in the soil.
Soil capping or crusting refers to the creation of a sealed “cap” on the top layer of the soil, often resulting from heavy rain pounding the soil - destroying its structure leading to a compaction of the soil surface. Learn how can you mitigate soil capping in your growing space.
Ponding occurs when soil receives more water than it can absorb (infiltrate). This can happen during periods of heavy rainfall, causing water to collect on the surface instead of soaking in. Such pooling often occurs in low-lying areas, resulting in puddles - ‘ponds’. What does this mean for agricultural producers?
