The crops are planted, and the unofficial start of summer is here! That means it’s almost time for Continuum Ag’s 2022 Field Day. Our team has been preparing for months and we are sure you will enjoy our great line-up of speakers! Check out the days events: Open registration at the event begins at […]
Where there’s water, there’s life. That is a saying more for Africa but also appropriate for here in the States. Water is the key to help plants grow by being part of photosynthesis and moving nutrients through the plant. Where does this water come from? From the ground. Nutrients are drawn up from the soil, […]
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve given a blog update with things that have been going on with Continuum Ag, so I figured it’s my turn to share some insights as to what we’ve really been up to. The future of agriculture is clearer than ever that regenerative systems are going to be needed […]
I recently made the long trip down to Arkansas for my first soil sampling trip for Continuum Ag. It was an action-packed trip, leaving a trail through Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and finally, Arkansas. After being stuck in an elevator in our first night’s hotel stay, it could only get better! An appointment with a bottle […]
If you ask any farmer what their biggest limiting factors are on their farm, what do you think the biggest answers would be? I think the majority of farmers would say water, soil pH, or nitrogen. However, one of the biggest limiting factors often times gets overlooked; the carbon to nitrogen ratio. The C:N ratio […]
This week, we had the opportunity to visit Loran Steinlage’s farm. Loran is a farmer in northeastern Iowa, and is a big name when it comes to regenerative practices. When asked how many generations his family has farmed, Loran says that his grandfather moved here from Germany and he still has relatives farming in Europe. […]
As the demand for sufficient and high-quality food production increases, farmers are under constant pressure to improve and adapt. More emphasis is needed on farming approaches that minimize input cost while maximizing output. What if ecological processes are a way to do this? Biodiversity, especially insects, are often affected negatively by agriculture, but not if […]
Continuum Ag has some exciting news! At Continuum Ag, we’re very excited to announce the new features that have just been launched to our TopSoil software. The Farm Profile, Regen Returns Report, and Regen Roadmap are all tools that are going to help farmers successfully implement Regenerative Ag on their farms, all while keeping a […]
There are many benefits to increasing biodiversity on your farm. The standard rotation of corn and beans is what most Midwestern’s row crop farmers stick to, and this model is hard to break because of the lack of availability of other viable markets. How do we break this system, and implement diversity on a farm […]
With all of the awards farmers can receive, which is the one that is most talked about and most competitive? The national yield contest. Farmers from around the country compete in the national yield contest, very closely managing their small plots to get bin-busting yields that most ordinary farmers can only dream about. The amount […]
Day in and day out, farmers face issues that they have no control over. Input costs, prices of commodities, government regulation, and equipment breakdowns are just a few of the inevitable problems that farmers have to deal with year round. While these issues cannot be avoided, they can be prepared for, and cultivating healthy soil […]
In any industry, community is something that is very important to cultivate. As a farmer or rancher, what does your community look like? What is your support network? The soil health community is growing quickly, and is beginning to gain momentum. The BIG Soil Health Event was held on Monday and Tuesday this past week, […]
The season of cover crop planting is coming to a close. Did you get any cover crops out in your fields this year? Cover crops can be expensive, and many farmers would rather spend their money on other inputs like fertilizer, chemicals, etc. This is a tough mentality to break. Benefits of implementing cover crops […]
What value does Continuum Ag’s RightWay soil sampling program deliver to farmers? We get that question a lot, and we get it. You want to know that what you pay for is going to provide value to your operation. What’s different about our program is that we provide insight on your farm that other […]
Greetings! My name is Tucker Gibbons, and I am an agronomist and customer success lead at Continuum Ag. I grew up in small-town Michigan, where I followed my dad around to farms as he tended to livestock and horses as a veterinarian. I found my love for agriculture at a young age doing that with […]
Since he began using residue on his farm Brian Hora has learned more about residue management and benefits, and this is what he has to say, “Residue is not only a nutrient source, it is also food for the microbes, adding to our soil biology, and insulating the soil to protect against temperature variation and […]
It is nearly inevitable that when any change is happening within an industry the Government always wants to play a part and become involved. This is definitely happening now when it comes to the regenerative ag/soil health movement. With the Biden administration and with Secretary Vilsack back in the office, carbon and climate have been […]
The regenerative ag/soil health/sustainability, movement has continued to gain a lot of notoriety, a lot of press, and awareness. However, we still need to come up with a strategy for the adoption of these regenerative practices. Washington County, Iowa is a really interesting place in that there are a lot of farmers that are utilizing practices like […]
In 2020 Continuum Ag received our first round of venture capital investment. These funds were to be utilized to expand our team as we implemented early go-to-market, develop our software, TopSoil, and complete legal milestones for business success. We were shifting from a direct-to-farmer consulting company to a Software-as-a-Service (Saas) organization. We are still working […]
It’s really interesting to watch how agriculture and how farmers come in and out of the spotlight when it comes to political discussions and overall media interest. Today, we see farmers at the heart of the discussion when it comes to the new administration and their focus on climate and implementing regenerative ag systems at […]
First off, thank you everyone for a good year regardless of the crazy 2020 circumstances. Here’s to a Merry Christmas and a happy 2021! Although 2020 was filled with plenty of ups and downs, overall we’ve had a great year at Continuum Ag. We’re very excited to continue to move things forward in 2021. This […]
As we move further into fall, farmers in the midwest and around the country are excited to see the yield monitor and to evaluate how the year’s worth of work will pay off. There is a lot of variability in yields this year due to weather and soil conditions and especially in the soil’s ability […]
Over the last year, Continuum Ag has been building the agricultural space’s first soil health data analytics platform. We publicly launched the TopSoil Tool in March 2020 and we’re really excited to share some of the new features that we are now releasing to the public for the fall soil sampling season. The TopSoil Tool […]
Today, we want to give an update on the relay crop, now that the rye portion of the trial has all been wrapped up. One of the main things to consider as we expand cover cropping is that we need to be able to grow more cover crop seed. Cover crops are a key tool […]
This year, we decided to start growing barley for the first time. We have about 24 acres of barley that we planted last fall as normal cover crop. We planted one bushel to the acre, but instead of terminating the cover crop, we harvested it for malt barley. Last year we grew wheat and became […]
Today, we want to give an introduction to this year’s “Mega Trial”. Over the last couple of years, Continuum Ag has helped farmers and our overall network to understand products and practices that can help improve soil health. We’ve been working with a wide array of different ag input companies to evaluate products based on […]
Well, not sure when Mother Nature is going to cooperate, but sometime here spring will stay! Plant 2020 is here! We hope you are excited as we are. It’s important to reflect during this time on the importance of our role as farmers, we are the shepherds of creation. We want to grow our soils, […]
What a crazy time we are in right now between trade, adverse weather conditions and now a global pandemic. This current state of our planet is something we have never seen or experienced before. However, the key takeaway here is how vital agriculture is to the world at large. Farmers and agriculturalists are essential to […]
AgTech has been a buzzword that has continuously grown. It can be great, and provide a lot of tools for us as farmers, but it can also be scary in the sense that we’re being bombarded with a ton of technologies, data and new tools that can help our operations. At Continuum Ag, we want […]
“Wow, what the heck is happening to soil nutrients right now?” This is something many farmers are wondering. With extreme weather and rainfall patterns through the 2018 and 2019 seasons, no current soil prediction model can fully understand what is going on in our soils. Biology is continually functioning and changing within the soil, which […]
The idea to execute this trial came about because we’ve been using cover crops on our farm for the last couple of years. However, seed can be an issue in terms of availability and price. So, I said, “Dad, why don’t we try to harvest some of this?” and he said, “Okay, not a bad […]
We always hear, “Well I don’t get paid for soil health.” Traditionally we as farmers have only been paid for the yields produced off of our farms. We try to do things as efficiently as possible while driving for maximum yield. We’ve heard from the ag industry, “We need to feed the world; we need […]
As promised, we want to tell the complete story of our experiment with 30 inch by 60 inch row corn here in Iowa on the Continuum Ag farm. Mitchell bought this plot in 2017. Last year it was soybeans, and they did really well. This 30 acre area did 80 bushels, which was awesome. The […]
Traditional harvest data As we are now getting into the heat of harvest season, data is on everyone’s mind – yield data, moisture, acres harvested, total bushels produced and crop pricing. These are some of the many different data points we have to keep track of as farmers, but how do we make sense of […]
As we’re preparing for harvest, the main driving metric that we’ve always looked at to evaluate success has been yield and yield only. But, only driving for more yield has taken us away from other metrics that really matter in running a successful farming operation or ranch. Not only do we want to continue to […]
WHAT IS A COVER CROP A cover crop is a plant grown for purposes other than the harvest of grain for sale. Covering the ground year round is one of the tenants of regenerative ag. On the Continuum Ag farm, we use cover crops as a tool to reduce erosion, to improve soil function and […]
Are you getting a return on investment in your soil fertility program? How did the adverse weather this year impact your soil and overall soil health? We can do soil sampling tests to find out. What is RightWay? RightWay is Continuum Ag’s zone soil sampling program. We thoroughly evaluate the soil based on assessing actual […]
How do farmers get paid for carbon sequestration? Since starting into the soil health space, we often heard “I don’t get paid for soil health”. That has now changed. Recently, groups such as Indigo Ag have stepped forward saying, “We’re going to start paying farmers for carbon sequestration.” That means farmers will actually get paid […]
What is Continuum Ag? Continuum Ag is a soil health consulting company fueled by our new custom analytics software. With this software, we can quantify and improve soil health around the world. As we fine-tuning our services, we are working with farmers, consultants and agribusinesses to design a unique plan that logistically and economically advances […]