After a successful career as a program manager in IT, Brian decided to follow his passion for the environment and healthy food. He now runs a successful consultancy, Sprouting Soils. His clients include vineyards, orchards, and cannabis growers.
Todd was one of the first to ever train with Dr. Elaine Ingham. He’s built a successful business, producing Biological Soil Amendments and providing consultancy services. Todd’s company, Harrington’s Organics, employs 7 people and has numerous clients around the U.S. and beyond.
Nick has focused extensively on soil health since his time as an undergraduate at Oregon State where he discovered the works of Dr. Ingham. Now he spends his time sharing his exploration and implementation of soil health principles and techniques with clients in the Western U.S. and beyond.
In this series of 63 lectures, you’ll learn the theory and application methodology behind the Soil Food Web Approach, including how to make, assess, and apply BioComplete™ Compost and liquid inocula.
You’ll work with a dedicated mentor to complete the 3 stages of the CTP, starting with Stage 1 where you’ll develop your Compost Making and Microscopy skills to the required standard.
As a Certified SFW Consultant, you’ll have the skills to make Biological Compost, conduct Soil Biology Assessments with the microscope, and help farmers to rapidly regenerate their soils.
Plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and they invest a substantial proportion of this into the soil (~40%) to feed microorganisms. This is the basis of the mechanism that pumps carbon into the world’s soils. It is possible that by regenerating the world’s soils, we may be able to halt climate change.
Recent studies have shown that the world’s insect populations have been declining by around 25% every decade for the last 30 years! Bird populations are also plummeting, and other animals are being affected too. The major causes have been identified as habitat destruction and the use of pesticides.
Typically only about 40% of the inorganic fertilizers, applied by conventional farmers, are absorbed by plants. The rest pollutes our air, rivers, lakes and oceans, causing major damage to those ecosystems and to the world’s oceans. With the Soil Food Web in place and the use of regenerative practices, inorganic fertilizers are not required.
The earth’s topsoils are being eroded at an alarming rate. The UN has estimated that we only have 60 years left before they are completely depleted. The soil food web is nature’s way of building the structure that prevents soils from being washed away by heavy rain or blown away by the wind. Intensive plowing and the use of chemicals destroys this structure, leaving the soil vulnerable to erosion.
These critical issues, along with demand for ecologically produced foods, are motivating farmers, ranchers, and growers to switch to Regenerative Agriculture.
But they need support to make the transition happen rapidly and effectively…that’s where you can help!
It can feel like it’s a never-ending battle fighting against all the different critters out there that want to take your crops down.
Layers of compacted earth result in soil erosion and they make it really tough for plant roots to penetrate deep into the soil profile.
Soil fertility is a major problem around the world. This results in lower yields and produce that is nutrient deficient.
As soil structure and organic matter content are degraded over time, the soil’s ability to infiltrate and hold water is compromised.
Many farmers are experiencing diminishing crop yields despite the fact that they are pouring on more and more chemical fertilizer year after year.
For many farmers, the costs of chemical inputs seem to rise every year, making it harder and harder to earn a living.
With beneficial biology in the soil, plants get to control their own nutrition by exchanging exudates for the nutrients they need, when they need them. Click here to learn more.
The Soil Food Web protects plants from disease-causing organisms and pests in a number of different ways. Click here to watch the video about this.
Improved nutrition and soil structure as well as protection against pests and diseases are some of the ways in which plants are positively affected, resulting in increased yields. Learn more.
Beneficial soil microbes build soil structure, which enables water to better infiltrate clay soils while increasing the water-holding capacity of sandy soils. Increased organic matter is also very important. Learn more.
With the Soil Food Web Approach, we enlist the help of beneficial microbes to build soil structure and we also adopt management practices such as no till to ensure that compaction doesn’t recur. Learn more.
Your plants can get what they need from the soil once you have the right biology in place. This includes nutrition and protection from pests and diseases. Click here to learn more.
Study the science and application methods behind the Soil Food Web Approach in the Foundation Courses, then work with one of our highly-skilled mentors to create your own biological compost and master the microscope.
Once you’ve successfully completed this program, you will:
What You Will Learn
You’ll have the option to join our new 10-week Compost Intensive Program, where you’ll work in a cohort of 20 students through a structured weekly format, featuring live weekly lectures, followed by Q&A sessions with members of the mentoring team, and additional group sessions during the week. This new cohort format is designed specifically for folks who want to work and learn in a group setting and who want the opportunity to make lifelong connections with fellow students and future colleagues.
What’s Included
Access to the Community Forum where your questions will be answered by Dr. Elaine’s team.
Monthly Q&A webinars with our Faculty and other regeneration experts.
Develop your skills and make lifelong connections in this optional 10-week cohort training experience.
You’ll get a completion certificate with the Foundation Courses and have the option of certifying as a Soil Food Web Lab-Tech.
You can download Lecture Slides, Course Manuals, and other printable materials to create your own library of reference materials.
(One payment of $3,199)
Monthly Financing as low as 0% APR**
(U.S. residents only)
There are only 28 places available
* With the Consultant Career-Starter Package you are registering for the Foundation Courses at the price of $3,199 (that’s $1801 off the regular price of $5,000) and Stage 1 of the Consultant Training Program for free (regular price $2,000).
**Rates from 0% APR or 10-36% APR. Payment options through Affirm are subject to an eligibility check and are provided by these lending partners: http://affirm.com/lenders. See http://affirm.com/licenses for important info on state licenses and notifications.
Dr. Elaine has used the Soil Food Web Approach to regenerate soils on 6 continents. We now have students in over 100 countries and so far we haven’t found anywhere in the world where the soil ecosystem cannot be restored. (Antarctica is the obvious exception since the soil isn’t accessible there!)
All plants form symbiotic relationships with microorganisms in the soil. That’s because when plants first evolved on the land, around 500 million years ago, the world’s soils were already populated with microbes. So these relationships have been there from the beginning. Our persistent disturbance of the soil, with the plow and more recently with chemicals, has destroyed the balance that existed in the soil ecosystem. Fortunately, we can put that right very rapidly with the Soil Food Web Approach, which is all about harvesting microbes from the local area, multiplying the aerobic microbes using Dr. Elaine’s close-control composting system, and then re-introducing them to the soil. With regenerative agricultural techniques like no till, the soil biome is protected and so repeated treatments may not be necessary.
The short answer is ‘yes’. Dr. Elaine has worked on large scale projects that cover thousands of acres. She has also worked on some smaller projects too. BioComplete™ Compost and liquid amendments can be produced at large scale, using industrial equipment and also at very small scale, using hand tools and home-made brewing kits. Of course, application at large scale is very different than it would be in someone’s garden, but the good news is that conventional spraying equipment and irrigation systems can be used to deliver BioComplete™ Liquid Amendments to the soil, with some very minor modifications.
Our training programs are designed for people with no scientific or agricultural background. Dr. Elaine has an informal teaching style that makes the lectures easy to follow. You’ll have access to the Student Forum and monthly live Q&A sessions where your questions will be answered.
This is a flexible online program, so you can work at your own pace. The Foundation Courses can be completed in as little as 4 weeks or in as long as 12 months. The Mentoring Program is also designed to be very flexible. You can book sessions with your mentor when you feel you need support, and your mentor will be on hand to answer your emails. The program is designed for people with busy schedules.
Dr. Elaine Ingham has spent decades collaborating with farmers in different parts of the world, working on a variety of different crop-types, to develop the Soil Food Web Approach.
One of her primary goals was to ensure that farmers could provide their crops with sufficient nutrients and with protection against pests and diseases, without the need to use expensive chemical inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides. Please take a look at the Case Studies videos on this page where you can hear directly from Farmers and Consultants who are reporting great results and financial benefits when using Dr. Elaine’s techniques as part of their process.
In the Testimonial videos on this page, you will hear from some of the folks who have trained with Dr. Elaine and who have followed in her footsteps to establish themselves as Soil Food Web Professionals. Each of them works independently and they run their own businesses, but they are all part of the Soil Food Web community. Some of them had no background in Farming or Biology. Careers in this space include: Soil Food Web Consultants, Lab-Techs and Compost Producers.
In Foundation Course 1 you will learn:
In Foundation Course 2 you will learn:
In Foundation Course 3 you will learn:
In Foundation Course 4 you will learn:
Yes, the Foundation Courses are 100% online, theory-based courses. You will watch a series of lectures and take a short quiz after each one.
Yes, they are. You’ll be able to login at any time, watch a lecture as many times as you like, then prepare for the short multiple-choice quiz that follows each lecture.
You can start as soon as you sign up.
There are 63 lectures total in all four Foundation Courses. To see the full breakdown of the Foundation Courses and the lecture titles, please click here.
The regular price for the 4 courses is $5,000. With the July 2025 offer you pay $3,199 and you get lots more FREE!
Students typically require about 150 hours in order to complete the FC at a reasonable pace.
We expect that a student can complete the FC in 4 weeks, if studying full-time. The maximum time allowed to complete the FC is 12 months. You can apply for an extension if you need it.
The courses are designed for people with no background in the field.
Students wishing to pursue a career as a Soil Food Web Consultant will need to progress from the FC to the Consultant Training Program.
Some become Soil Food Web Consultants who help farmers, ranchers, and growers to transition away from using chemicals to a biological/regenerative farming technique. Others focus on producing great compost, which they then can sell to soil consultants or direct to farmers. And others become Soil Food Web Lab-Technicians who perform biological assessments for farmers and growers, or for Soil Food Web Consultants.
Students typically need to make at least 6 compost piles before they can achieve the required standards for passing the compost practicum. If you have the resources, you can make multiple piles, with varying recipes, simultaneously, to save time. Each pile will require up to 28 days to complete, once built. A reasonable time-frame for the compost practicum is 3-12 months.
CTP students are expected to complete the CLP while simultaneously working on Stage 1 of the CTP.
Students are expected to complete all three stages of the CTP within 2 years (24 months). The maximum allowable time for completion of the CTP is 2.5 years (30 months), after which your enrollment in the CTP will expire.
To become a Certified Soil Food Web Consultant, you must first successfully complete the Foundation Courses with at least a 90% average (if you score less than 90% then you may still be considered for entry, but entry is not guaranteed) and then successfully complete all 3 stages of the Consultant Training Program (CTP).
The courses are designed for people with no background in the field.
You will need to purchase several pieces of equipment in order to complete each stage. The precise budget will depend on the size of your final project. Your mentor will be able to advise you on equipment selection. The minimum requirements are likely to cost around $1,000.
There are several possibilities: you may be offered employment by one of the organizations that is associated with Dr. Elaine’s™ Soil Food Web School; you may decide to offer your services to farmers in the area where you live, establishing your own business; the Soil Food Web School is often approached by farmers looking for a referral to a consultant and we refer these farmers to the Consultants Page on our website, where certified Soil Food Web Consultants are listed.
You can complete stages 1 and 2 of the program by attending a 12-day workshop. Please contact student support ([email protected]) for more information on the CTP Accelerator Workshops scheduled for October, 2026 in Texas
Yes it is. Consultant Training Program students are required to complete the Certified Lab-Tech Program in Stage 1 of the Consultant Training Program. Click here for more info.
No. To become a Consultant, you will need to enroll in and successfully complete Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the Consultant Training Program as well. You will become a Certified Lab-Tech after completing Stage 1 of the Consultant Training Program, provided you pass all portions of the Microscope Proficiency Assessment. You will also be qualified to make biologically active compost after successful completion of Stage 1.
The term BioCompleteTM is used to refer to compost and liquid amendments that meet the minimum biological requirements defined by Dr Elaine Ingham as being required in order for the amendment to be effective in restoring the soil biome, when correctly applied. You will be trained how to make these amendments in the Consultant Training Program.
As this is a trademarked term, protected under copyright law, it can only be used with written permission of the Soil Food Web School.
