AGRONOMY FIELD NOTE • AUGUST 2026
As harvest approaches, most conversations focus on yield. How many bushels are in the field? Did the fungicide pay? How did the crop handle the weather? Those questions matter.
But for regenerative producers, harvest isn’t the end of the season. It’s the beginning of the next one.
One of the biggest differences between conventional and regenerative systems is the understanding that soil health isn’t built during a single growing season. It’s built through a continuous cycle of management decisions made throughout the entire year. In regenerative agriculture, there is no true “off-season.” Every season presents an opportunity to improve the system. And few opportunities are as valuable as the period between harvest and next spring’s seeding.
YOU HAVE QUESTIONS. WE HELP FIND THE ANSWERS
The opportunity to supercharge your soil engine with the principles of regenerative agriculture starts now—not next spring.
Once the crop comes off, producers have the ability to make decisions that can influence soil health, nutrient cycling, moisture management, and crop performance long before the next seed enters the ground.
This is the time to evaluate residue levels and determine whether enough soil armor will remain to protect the soil surface through winter. What impact will shredding the straw versus baling it have? How much carbon can my current soil biology handle? Will too much residue tie up my nitrogen next spring?
It’s a chance to explore cover crops or companion cropping strategies that keep living roots active for longer periods of the year. Do I capture enough moisture to handle a fall seeded crop? Should I spin some seed on with a drone? Would it negatively or positively impact next years crop?
For some operations, this fall may be an option to establish grazing partnerships with neighbouring livestock producers and bring animals back into the nutrient cycle. How do I account for manure in my spring nutrient needs? Will trampling help or hinder my smooth fields? How do I keep the cattle in when I don’t have fence around these acres?
For others, it may involve strategically applying manure, humic substances, biological products, composts, or other amendments this fall that help build long-term soil function. Will these inputs still be there next spring? How much nutrients can my soil biology make available by seeding? How do I get them into the soil in a minimum disturbance system?
This is also the time to assess water movement within the field. How much moisture infiltrated this year? How much ran off? How effectively did the soil capture and hold rainfall?
The answers to these questions often determine next year’s profitability long before spring arrives.
GOOD DECISIONS START WITH GOOD INFORMATION
The most valuable management plans are built using more than a soil test alone.
As harvest progresses, producers have a unique opportunity to combine:
- What they observed throughout the growing season
- What the yield monitor is telling them
- What post-harvest soil sampling reveals
Together, these pieces create a much clearer picture of how a field is functioning. Why did one part of the field outperform another? Why do some acres consistently hold moisture better? Where is residue breaking down efficiently? Where are nutrients cycling effectively? Where are compaction, poor infiltration, or biological limitations reducing productivity?
This is why harvest and the weeks immediately afterward are some of the most important times for your Johnston’s Regenerative Agronomist to be in the field with you. Working alongside our PhD Soil Science team, Johnston’s Regenerative helps producers build complete field-specific management plans that may include:
- Advanced Fertility™ recommendations
- Residue management strategies
- Moisture retention and infiltration improvements
- Livestock and manure integration opportunities
- Cover crop and crop rotation planning
- Nutrient cycling enhancements
- Biological product recommendations
- Long-term soil health objectives
Next year’s crop starts behind this year’s combine.
The producers who gain the most value from regenerative agriculture are often the ones who begin planning while harvest is still underway. By the time spring arrives, many of the biggest opportunities to influence soil health have already passed.
| READY TO BOOK A FIELD VISIT? Talk to your Johnston’s Regenerative Agronomist about booking your fall soil samples to not just maximize next year’s crop, but to improve the profitability, resilience and productivity of your farm for years to come. 1-844-324-7778 johnstonsregenerative.com |
