Agribusiness

Soil sensors and soil analysis from SoilMania help farmers achieve vital crops through sustainable soil

Bodemsensoren en bodemanalyses van SoilMania helpen boeren via een duurzame bodem aan vitale gewassen

Farmers in the Netherlands have been doing soil research for years, but could not get an explanation from traditional soil research methods as to why a crop grows better in one place than another.

With SoilMania's soil sensors and their soil insight analysis 2.0, the changes and differences in crops can indeed be explained; they arise from differences in soil life. This is why Dr. Judith van de Mortel is applying SoilMania's soil sensors and soil analysis in her project ''Practical knowledge for food and green: sustainable soil management.'' "The first results are promising," says Judith.

Laboratory Analysis

Judith van de Mortel is a lecturer for the HAS in Den Bosch and Venlo at the lectorate 'Healthy plant on a vital and sustainable soil (click here for more information) Nine farmers from Brabant and Limburg participate in the project 'Practical knowledge for food and green: sustainable soil management'. Together with the farmers and a group of fourth-year students, Judith is doing research in this project to improve the organic matter content of the soil.

"Each farmer provided 2 plots of land where soil sensors were installed and where we do soil insight 2.0 analyses," Judith says. "At the start of the project, everyone involved was explained how the soil sensors work and the laboratory analyses. The laboratory analysis gave a complete insight into both the chemical composition of the soil and the biological processes taking place there. Then the farmers and students got to work with the sensors themselves, under the guidance of SoilMania, some crop consultants and myself."

Purpose of the project

"We started this project to provide entrepreneurs with insight into the state of their soil quality," says Judith. "A farmer sees that a crop is growing well or poorly, but often cannot explain why that is. Gaining insight into that is very valuable for the farmer.

With this project, we are mapping that. We determine what the characteristics of a soil are and then look for answers to questions such as: Does the soil have enough capacity to retain water? What nutrients does the soil contain on this plot? What is the groundwater level? And what effect do all these data have on crop quality? Which management measures have a positive effect and which a negative effect? Consider, for example: no-till versus digging. Crop protection versus biological control. Watering or not watering a field. Weed control with herbicides versus weed control with heat."

"Soil life sensors from SoilMania generate data on pH, soil moisture, oxygen content, EC (salinity) and soil temperature. We link soil insight analysis 2.0 to the sensor data to find out exactly what is happening on the plot, both in the soil and with the crops on it. We are trying to make connections so that we will soon be able to control processes on the field based on sensor data," says Judith.