Soil Health Institute
The context
The Soil Health Institute is an American non-profit driving the adoption of regenerative practices through research and grower education. They help farmers adopt better land management practices to boost long-term resilience. The focus: protecting and improving soil productivity for today’s farms and future generations.
They came to us with a bold idea: build a tool that shows farmers how their decision to adopt regenerative management practices can boost their drought resilience. We turned that vision into a web-based Drought Resilience Calculator that’s practical, easy to use, and designed to make farming more sustainable.
Project details
The challenge
Soil’s ability to bounce back during dry spells depends on how well it holds and stores water. Two key factors are soil organic carbon and residue retention. Research from the Soil Health Institute has shown that improving soil organic carbon increases the amount of water soil can store. By maintaining residue cover, water in the soil is protected from evaporation. Building soil organic carbon through regenerative management fuels the microorganisms that build healthy soil structure, creating space for water to move and sink in. Maintaining residue cover creates a barrier that saves water for when crops need it. When organic carbon and residue cover levels go up, so does the soil’s ability to retain moisture and keep crops growing strong during drought. If soil can’t store enough water for crops, the consequences are clear. Crops suffer, yields drop, and farmers face rising costs for irrigation and inputs. Long term, it puts both soil and farm profitability at risk.
Before this tool existed, there was not an easy to use resource that connected regenerative principles like building soil organic carbon and maintaining residue cover with outcomes like drought resilience. Many farmers are already using sustainable practices, but often without a way to measure their impact. Farmers who do not use sustainability practices don’t have information that shows the benefits they could achieve if they did use them.
This tool helps close that gap. It makes the science more visible and the benefits of good land management easier to understand. Designed primarily for farmers across the U.S. (along with the agronomists who support them), the product needed to strike a careful balance. It had to be grounded in science but still clear, approachable, and easy to use. It needed to meet farmers where they are, whether they’re just starting with soil health or already applying advanced practices. Younger farmers, in particular, are more tech-savvy and data-driven, so designing with that in mind was key. The goal was to make complex ideas feel accessible, no matter the user’s background or experience level.
Just as importantly, the tool had to deliver insights that are local and personal. Even when two farms follow the same practices, their outcomes can differ based on soil type, climate, and weather conditions. That’s why the tool needed to leverage regional data to help farmers see how their decisions will shape results on their own, specific land.
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The task at hand
Before working with us, The Soil Health Institute leveraged MatLab to run the core algorithm behind the application. It starts with user-provided inputs (details about field location, what crops are being grown, and management practices) and combines them with real-time and historical data like solar radiation, temperature, weather patterns, and soil characteristics. Most of this external data comes from publicly available datasets and national monitoring networks that collect data using in-field sensors. Together, these inputs generate a detailed view of each field’s composition and its ability to withstand drought.
We built on this foundation to bring the algorithm to life in an initial prototype. Our developers moved the applicative code to Python, making it easier to scale and integrate with a larger simulation engine designed for modeling drought resilience. This gave the product more flexibility and power, making it more useful to farmers.
Once we had a working MVP, we brought in a designer to elevate the experience. She kicked things off with a UX audit, followed by interviews with farmers and agronomists to gather feedback on the early prototype. Many were accessing the desktop version on tablets and flagged issues with usability across devices. Our designer took that feedback and redesigned the interface to work seamlessly on desktop, tablet, and mobile.
The original calculator was functional but lacked context in key areas. Our designer addressed this by adding more copy and helpful blurbs to guide users, making it clearer what each screen was for and what actions to take. She also introduced new screens, streamlined navigation, and added a stepper to show users where they were in the process.
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The end result
The Drought Resilience Calculator is a user-friendly, science-powered app that guides farmers through practical steps to understand how their land management choices affect soil health and how resilient their soil is to drought.
Here’s how it works:
- Find your field - Use the map, enter coordinates, or search by location.
- Add your crops - Select what you’re growing and the typical planting date.
- Simulate changes - Use two interactive sliders to adjust residue cover and soil organic carbon levels, and see how these changes (from reducing tillage to increasing carbon levels above regional baselines) affect your soil’s drought resilience.
Based on this input, the calculator generates a baseline showing how drought-resilient the soil is under current conditions. The results include a dynamic graph that shows how much water would be available over time during a drought scenario, compared with the projected water availability if certain practices were improved. Alongside the graph, three cards highlight key metrics that quantify the impact of a specific practice change. For example, increasing residue cover might reduce evaporation by a certain percentage.
What we’ve built is more than a calculator. It’s a smart, accessible starting point for farmers to understand how their soil stacks up, and how to strengthen it for the future.
What’s next
The calculator is poised to spark meaningful conversations around soil health, ROI, and land management practices. What excites The Soil Health Institute most is having a tool that brings science into the hands of farmers. It makes complex information accessible, actionable, and directly tied to better decisions on the ground.
A more advanced Selection Mode is on the way for users with deeper domain expertise, complete with more technical language to match. Users will be able to export a PDF of their results to share with an agronomist and explore next steps to achieve the benefits that are possible. In spring 2026, a new County/Region Exploration Mode will also give users an easy way to view resilience data across a wider area. By comparing a drought-prone field with a more typical "common field" in the same region, users can see how local conditions shape outcomes and where there’s room for improvement at scale.
The tool is designed to be a starting point. It’s a launchpad for learning, decision-making, and conversations with a trusted non-profit partner offering a wealth of resources and support.
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Insights
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