Regenerative Farming Starts with the First Inch of Soil

You’ve heard the buzz around regenerative agriculture; less tillage, fewer inputs, more resilience. But what’s often overlooked in this conversation is where true regeneration begins: with the living biology in the top inch or two of your soil. It’s not just about cover crops and carbon credits. It’s about fungi. Specifically, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF).

These microscopic organisms form one of the most important foundations of soil regeneration. When they thrive, your soil structure improves, nutrient cycling increases, and your farm starts to work with nature—not against it.

Why the Top Few Inches of Soil Matter So Much

The first few inches of soil is where seeds germinate, roots emerge, and biology comes to life. It’s also where the most biological activity happens – assuming life hasn’t been wiped out by heavy tillage, compaction, or chemical overload.

In a conventional system, this layer is often degraded. Tillage breaks up soil aggregates, exposes microbes to oxygen and UV light, and disrupts fungal networks. Over time, this leads to a soil that’s chemically fertile but biologically dead.

In a regenerative system, the goal is different: maintain a living root in the soil as much as possible and support microbial life – including fungi – so that the soil becomes more productive over time, not less.

Mycorrhizal Fungi: The Regeneration Engine

Mycorrhizal fungi are not optional in regenerative systems; they’re essential. These fungi colonize plant roots and extend their reach, creating vast hyphal networks that pull in water and nutrients from parts of the soil roots can’t touch.

In regenerative fields, fungi do more than feed crops:

• They release glomalin, which stabilizes soil aggregates and improves tilth
  
• They increase water infiltration and retention
  
• They reduce erosion by holding soil in place
  
• They boost nutrient availability, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizer
  

This creates a positive feedback loop: better soil biology supports stronger plants, which feed the biology, which improves the soil even further.

From Dead Dirt to Living Soil

Many fields today show signs of serious degradation: wind erosion, compaction, salt damage, no tilth or soil structure, and organic matter loss. Farmers are seeing more and more white patches that don’t grow anything—even weeds.

Brady Krchnavy of New Age Farming LLC has worked with farms like these, applying MycoMaxx, Salt B Gone, and adjusting practices to support regeneration. He reports that even severely damaged fields can be brought back to life. It takes time, but biology is capable of rebuilding structure and productivity from the roots up.

In Nebraska trials, fungi-treated fields developed significantly more nodal roots and thicker stalks, indicating healthier soil biology and better nutrient cycling. These fields yielded more, not just because of the seed or fertilizer, but because the biology was working as it should.

Regeneration Doesn’t Start with Carbon – It Starts with Biology

A lot of the regenerative conversation focuses on carbon sequestration. But carbon is just one output of a functioning soil system. To regenerate soil, you must start by rebuilding the microbial and fungal communities that allow soil to capture and hold that carbon in the first place.

Adding AMF speeds up this recovery. In just one season, farmers report improvements in root structure, moisture retention, and weed suppression. These aren’t just indicators of soil health; they’re the early signs of real regeneration.

Practical Steps to Start Regenerating with Fungi

Apply fungi at planting using in-furrow or seed treatment to colonize roots early.

Reduce tillage where possible. Strip-till, shallow till, or no-till systems preserve fungal networks.

Use cover crops that support mycorrhizal fungi – grasses, cereals, and legumes. Avoid full-season brassicas unless fungi are reintroduced after harvest.

Test your soil biology, not just your NPK. Partner with labs that measure microbial biomass and fungal-to-bacteria ratios.  Ideal F:B ratio is 1:1.  Most fields tested are 90-95% bacteria as the fungi has been killed with tradition farming practices.

Support biology. Cut back on salt-based fertilizers, avoid harsh fungicides, and minimize bare fallow periods.

Real Regeneration Happens One Root at a Time

You can’t buy your way to soil health with more chemical inputs. But you can grow your way there by investing in biology that does the work for you. Mycorrhizal fungi are the first partners in that process.  Trust mother nature!

When you regenerate the first few inches of soil, you unlock the rest. Everything that matters—water infiltration, nutrient availability, resilience, yield, starts there. And nothing unlocks that potential faster than giving your crops the fungi they were designed to grow with.

New Age Farming’s MycoMaxx product line provides the living biological edge your soil needs to transition from extraction to regeneration. It’s not about farming harder, it’s about farming smarter from the ground up.

Sources 

Kise, Sam. “New Age Farming and the Power of Mycorrhizal Fungi.” Future Farmer Magazine, March-April 2023.

Petersen, Mike. “Trip Report of the VT Crop Stage Plots.” Soils Consultant Report, Wood River Interchange, 2022.

Soil Food Web School. “The Magnificent Mycorrhizal Fungi.” soilfoodweb.com.