Founders: Tom Scrope and Dr Ben Butler
Year founded: 2022
Website: soilbenchmark.com
Soil Benchmark reaches thousands of farms across the UK, saving them money and time by simplifying farm management plans. Co-founder Tom Scrope grew up on a small farm on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. After a spell as a chartered accountant in London, he found himself drawn back to the farming world. But, while working as a sales rep selling bio-fertilisers to farmers, he felt that there was a better relationship to be forged.
“After spending hours trying to convince a farmer to buy a product he didn’t really want, it hit me that there had to be a better way. What really interested him wasn’t the product, but what our other customers were doing on their farms,” he says.
Working with soil scientist Dr Ben Butler, Scrope set out to build the ultimate soil database for UK farmers. Soil Benchmark uses the data that agronomists collect to help independent farmers improve their decision making.
After spending hours trying to convince a farmer to buy a product he didn’t really want, it hit me that there had to be a better way. What really interested him wasn’t the product, but what our other customers were doing on their farms,
As a result, customers can cut through mountains of regulatory paperwork to create soil, manure and nutrient management plans efficiently. The easily-navigable, map-based platform pre-populates this information, which “cuts compliance from hours to minutes and makes it easier to manage land in a profitable, sustainable way,” says the business.
The product has now scaled to be used on more than 11% of English farmland in less than 18 months. Future steps include spray plans and continuing to foster relationships with large-scale water companies, where the team says, “there’s growing demand for tools that improve nutrient management and water quality outcomes”. The software also continues to attract investment from “large farms with the balance sheet to invest”, showing the impact it is making.
there’s growing demand for tools that improve nutrient management and water quality outcomes
The challenge now is what to build first, say the co-founders, who doubled the size of their team after their last seed round. “In five years, we want to be the go-to platform for UK farm management, used on the majority of farmland and expanding internationally,” the team says.
Food companies, policymakers and environmental groups are also in their sights, in what has become a blooming venture.
.png)
