To use this curriculum, we have designated three phases in the planning process: Discover & Define, Develop, and Deliver. Each phase has an introduction followed by a list of steps and related tools. Links to worksheets, case studies, and other resources from real world agricultural planning scenarios are included where relevant for deeper understanding. Additional content included in this curriculum can be directly applicable to stewards, ranchers or other interested groups for the purpose of education. We encourage you to explore the curriculum as best fits your goals, whether that be to put these principles into practice on your own land or to learn more about what the transition to regenerative agriculture looks like.

This curriculum is designed to share a collaborative process used to help both planners and stewards identify opportunities to improve ecological health, with an emphasis on the soil’s health across the steward’s land. The curriculum can also be useful for brands or organizations that work with stewards transitioning to regenerative organic agriculture.

Soil health is the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Healthy soil serves important functions such as regulating water, filtering pollutants, sustaining plant and animal life, cycling nutrients, and providing stability and structure. The five principles of soil health are:

Minimize soil disturbance (biological, chemical and physical).

Maximize soil cover by managing canopy, plant residue and manure.

Maximize biodiversity with the plants and animals you manage.

Maximize living roots throughout the entire year.

Integrate livestock.

In general, healthy soils have an earthy smell, will crumble easily at the touch, and are dark in color. Healthy soil is also teaming with microbes and living organisms. Not all climates can support earthworms, but they are generally a good indicator of healthy soil in arable land. Healthy soils also include habitats above the soil in decaying plant residues. Healthy soils are created through the management of living plants and animals that help cycle the nutrients and keep the soil covered.

In order to best understand soil health, it is important to distinguish the difference between dynamic and inherent soil properties. Dynamic soil properties can be altered by management, whereas inherent soil properties result primarily from soil-forming factors like climate, topography, parent material, and time. The difference between these properties directly correlates to decision making regarding costly management practices, such as choosing to tile, land leveling, adding inputs, or determining which plants and animals to raise.

A Soil Health Management Plan (SHMP) is used to identify and document soil health resource concerns and to design a transitional management plan for improving overall soil health. SHMPs include recommendations for land management practices that will address all four soil health principles as outlined by the NRCS (see above). A SHMP can also be used to apply for USDA funding through the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) to help cost-share the implementation of the plan.

The planning process helps guide the clarification, evaluation, and prioritization of short-term and long-term land and business goals, and it’s also helpful for designing actionable next steps. The plan document itself provides detailed documentation and assessment of a steward’s current resources. It also serves as a tool for measuring their progress toward meeting specific land and business goals over time.

Planning for an agricultural operation is essential for understanding the complex relationships between the natural resources under the management of a steward. It also helps one navigate the complexity of social support that’s often needed to achieve the economic outcomes defined by the steward to maintain a successful business.

Finally, plans are meant to be “living” documents–they can and are expected to change, evolve and adapt to fit the steward’s shifting circumstances and needs over time.

As you work through this curriculum, you’ll notice that each step of the planning process includes links to tools and templates for putting regenerative land and business ideas into action. In practice, using these tools will require patience and good, concise communication with stewards to fully understand their systems. Education and co-learning will need to occur between the steward and planner (or brand/organization) throughout each step of the data gathering process and when presenting a business case for adopting regenerative practices. Then, the information gathered can be used to make the most relevant and impactful decisions for their land and business moving forward.

While we have provided a wide array of tools to assist you throughout your planning process, you do not need to use all of them to create a plan. We invite you to use your own discretion regarding which tools will be most helpful to you as you move through the planning process.