Arable farming
Soil restoration is key in regenerative agriculture
Regenerative agriculture starts from one core idea: a healthy soil is alive. It is home to billions of organisms — bacteria, fungi, worms, insects and microorganisms — that together form a living ecosystem. They break down crop residues, release nutrients and build a stable structure in which water and air circulate freely.
Bacteria break down organic matter, fungi such as mycorrhiza form networks that help plants absorb water and minerals, and earthworms aerate the soil and improve water infiltration. Together, they create a soil food web that forms the foundation for fertility, resilience and vitality.
When the soil is tilled too frequently or too deeply, this balance is disrupted. Fungal networks are severed, bacterial populations lose their equilibrium, and organic matter breaks down more rapidly. As a result, carbon is released as CO₂, and the loss of earthworm channels leads to soil compaction and reduced water absorption.. The result is an exhausted, vulnerable soil.
Regenerative agriculture reverses this process. Through reduced tillage, permanent soil cover, diverse crops and green manures, soil life once again receives oxygen, nutrients and rest. This restores organic matter, increases soil biodiversity and enhances carbon sequestration. The result is a resilient soil that retains water more effectively, remains fertile and contributes to climate benefits. In this way, farming becomes not only productive but also restorative — for people, the climate and nature.
Arable farming
Soil management
Healthy soil is the foundation of everything we do. Soil management determines how well water is retained, how nutrients are utilised and how much CO₂ the ground can store.
Since 2022, we have been applying regenerative techniques. We use minimal or non-inversion tillage and take regular soil samples to continuously monitor soil conditions.
Our regenerative approach
- Non-inversion tillage
- Sowing green manures
- Application of compost and bokashi
- Establishment and maintenance of flower-rich field margins
Through this approach, we preserve the soil’s natural structure and stimulate soil life. Earthworms, fungi and microorganisms can continue their work — leading to higher organic matter content and improved water retention.
Soil management
Crop rotation
It is advisable to grow a wide variety of crops in rotation. We practise crop rotation within an extensive ten-year plan that maximises diversity across the fields.
This extensive rotation plan ensures a wide crop cycle: each year, a different crop is grown on every plot of land. That makes a big difference for the soil. Potatoes and sugar beets, for example, extract many nutrients from the ground. That’s why it’s important to grow potatoes on the same field only once every three to four years. Our rotation goes well beyond that average — only once every ten years.
This extensive crop rotation also avoids increases in crop-related diseases, pests and weeds.
A good example of this are nematodes. Their numbers increase when crops they can feed on are grown. If those crops are absent for a few years, the nematode population declines, reducing problems in subsequent cultivation.
Some crops are considered “restorative crops,” particularly cereals and legumes (also known as protein crops because of their high protein content). Legumes can fix nitrogen from the air into the soil through a symbiotic relationship with rhizobium bacteria. These rhizobium bacteria live in root nodules — also called nitrogen nodules — which capture nitrogen from the air and supply it to the plant. Cereals and grasses, on the other hand, have large root systems that help build up organic matter in the soil.
Soil management
Herb-rich grassland
A high proportion of grassland in the crop rotation acts as a restorative crop, allowing significant amounts of CO₂ to be captured in the soil. Storing organic matter means storing carbon.
For the same reason, most fields are bordered by a 4-metre green strip made up of grass and various types of herbs.
These field margins originate from the “active margin management” project, which has been running for more than 20 years with support from the province, water authorities and the European Union. The initiative promotes biodiversity and reduces the leaching of fertilisers and crop protection products into ditches. Moreover, the margins allow machinery to drive along them, reducing crop damage in the fields.
Soil management
Tillage and cover crops
We keep ploughing to a minimum. Non-inversion or minimum tillage — where the soil is disturbed as little as possible, or not at all — offers many advantages. It promotes better development of soil life, improves soil structure and increases the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water. However, for some crops, no-till farming remains a challenge — particularly for fine-seeded crops such as spinach and carrots. To address this, we are exploring possibilities, including adapted mechanization.
We also specifically grow cover crops (crops not intended for consumption), as these improve soil structure, help retain nutrients and stimulate soil life.
When it comes to crop protection, we aim to preserve as many natural predators as possible. For example, we use treatments against aphids that specifically target them without harming other insects.
Arable farming
Water management is crucial for agriculture
Water is essential for both agriculture and nature. We manage it carefully to ensure the soil is more resilient to both drought and excess rainfall.
Our water approach
- Efficient electric irrigation system
- Use of modelling tools for targeted irrigation
- Weirs and dams to retain water
- Collaboration with the Dommel Water Board
Water management
Weirs and dams
Samen met de beheerders van Landgoed Gorp en Roovert [hyperlink naar website] bouwden we zo’n 70 stuwen en dammen die helpen om water langer in het gebied vast te houden. Zo krijgt het water de tijd om te infiltreren in de bodem in plaats van snel weg te stromen.
In winter, we retain water; in summer, we release it in a controlled way through irrigation.
This helps maintain a stable groundwater level and prevents drying out of both our fields and the surrounding woodland areas.
Water management
Groundwater level regulation
In a bid to maintain the groundwater level, we are building more and more weirs in the ditches by our fields. In winter, we retain as much water as possible. At that time, there are no consumable crops in the fields, as these would become flooded. However, the fields are still in use for cover crops. The large amount of retained water is released in phases, when necessary, often in periods of reduced rainfall, i.e. during spring and summer.
For this purpose, we use models that measure when the soil has become saturated, how much water has evaporated and how much precipitation has fallen.
Because our fields at the Gorp & Roovert estate are located between wooded areas, we need to carefully coordinate the respective water management systems. The plan must work for both the fields and the entire estate; some trees require wetter conditions, while others need drier soil. In some cases, we make deep ditches shallower if that proves more effective, while always maintaining accessibility to the fields.
Monitoring water quality
Tailored irrigation based on modelling not only improves water efficiency but also benefits water quality. Ditches must not be allowed to dry out, and we are not permitted to irrigate using surface water from them. Such water can contain diseases and bacteria that spread through spraying. We therefore need to be vigilant to prevent any ditch from overflowing, as this could contaminate crops with pathogens such as the brown rot bacterium.
In addition to interventions based on water quantity, we also safeguard water quality by using fewer pesticides or artificial fertilisers, both of which are harmful to the soil, soil life and soil water.
Minimum and dosed fertilisation
Fertilisation is done both in both dosed and minimal fashion. We use manure from our own cows or from other farmers in the area to close the cycle as much as possible.
When we use fertilisation, it is done so based on 4 factors:
- Tijd: net voor we het gewas zaaien. Later nemen we gewasmonsters om na te gaan of er eventueel nog een kleine hoeveelheid extra mest nodig is. Dat is niet alleen kostenefficiënt, het voorkomt overbemesting en dat de mest wegvloeit met een bui in de grond.
- Quantity: The amount of fertilisation needed per crop is known, meaning we can match the exact amount each crop requires.
- Type of fertiliser: we use as few fertilisers as possible that are prone to leaching into groundwater. Instead, we choose fertilisers that bind quickly to the crops, preventing nutrients from seeping into the soil.
- Location: applying fertiliser precisely where it is needed. Using GPS technology, we can fertilise with great accuracy — along the edges but not into the ditches — while also preventing overlap.
Organic matter
By introducing more organic matter (roots, plants, small animals, manure, carbon-absorbing substances) into the soil, we are increasing its sponge-like properties. This is especially true for crops that have elaborate root structures. Soil that is able to retain water is also able to release it more gradually. However, increasing the level of organic matter in the soil can prove tricky. It is especially important to avoid situations where the organic matter is decomposing faster than it is being accumulated.
We therefore process as much organic matter as possible in the soil, including organic manure (from cows or pigs) bokashi, cover crops and compost.
We have partnerships with various projects that send residual flows of various origins to the fields from within a 5 kilometre radius:
- Local municipalities (Municipality of Goirle and Municipality of Hilvarenbeek)
- Dommel Water Authority
- Stichting Brabants Landschap
The Water Board organises these types of collaborations to prevent flooding as much as possible. When the soil can absorb and retain more water thanks to these measures, it creates a win-win situation for all parties involved.
