Soil Health Workshop - Scotland

About this event

As a member of the Regenerate Outcomes programme, you’re invited to join us for an immersive Soil Health Workshop on Thursday 8th October Spend the day exploring regenerative farming strategies alongside farmers and our mentors, with hands-on discussions focused on building healthier soils, improving crop and livestock performance, and increasing resilience on farm. Expect honest conversations, field-based learning, and plenty of opportunities to ask questions, share experiences, and take away ideas you can apply straight away. Whether you’re already implementing regenerative practices or looking for new approaches, this workshop is designed to give you practical, farm-ready insights. The workshop will be led by Regenerate Outcomes mentors: • Stuart Johnson is a beef, sheep and arable farmer at West Wharmley Farm in Northumberland, and a long-standing member of the mentoring team. Find out more about Stuart here: Soil Farmer of the Year 2023 Stuart Johnson from Hexham on using regenerative farming practices — Regenerate Outcomes • Silas Hedley-Lawrence farms beef in the Cotswolds and is a well-known regenerative farming consultant, coach and advocate. He joined our mentoring team in 2026. Find out more about Silas here: Meet Your Mentor: Silas Hedley-Lawrence on Regenerative Livestock Farming and Soil Health — Regenerate Outcomes Each member farm can attend FOC, and receives a total of 2 complimentary tickets. Tickets for non-members are priced at £200 Free Company at Cockburn Farm Our Soil Health Workshop will be kindly hosted by member farm the Free Company at Cockburn Farm in Midlothian. Founded in 2016 at the foot of the Pentland Hills, The Free Company is a regenerative farm, restaurant, and community hub just outside Edinburgh. What began as a group of friends reviving forgotten rural skills has grown into a working model of how food, farming, and hospitality can thrive together — building resilience for land, people, and community. The Free Company, Balerno, Midlothian, Edinburgh EH14 7HZ ///caveman.genius.costly https://w3w.co/caveman.genius.costly Agenda 9.00 - 9.10 Framing the day: The Soil Health Workshop is not about ‘collecting’ more regenerative practices but getting better at reading the land and making better management decisions from what we see. 9:10 - 9:15 Introduction from host The Free Company at Cockburn Farm 9:15 - 10:45 Classroom session: Introduction to the 6-3-4 soil health framework and how this links to drought resilience What should a genuinely resilient field look like and what drives that? 10:45 - 11:00 Coffee break & walk to field for next session 11:00 - 12.30 In the field: Observation → interpretation → action What do we see? What does it tell us? What might be causing it? What are the management options? What would we change first? 12:30 - 1:30 - LUNCH 1:30 - 1:45 Rainfall simulator: How four different soil types from Cockburn Farm infiltrate and store water 1:45 - 3:30 In the field: Facilitated by workshop mentors Stuart and Silas, separate teams assess two different fields, identify key handbrakes, come up with potential solutions, decide what they’d do first and explain why. 1. What is the current condition? 2. What evidence led you to that conclusion? 3. What is the main handbrake? 4. What are 2-3 possible approaches? 5. Which would you try first, and why? 6. How would you know whether it worked? 3:30 - 4:30 Open questions, feedback and key takeaways What changed in how we look at a field? What would we do differently back home?