Soil status on smartphone in 10 minutes

The comparison with the European leading position of the Netherlands in precision agriculture has already been made with the presentation of 2 new affordable measuring methods from HLB/SoilCares. With this, the soil is continuously measured and analyzed for physical and chemical properties. 

'If you see the defects in the crop, you already have damage. Now we can measure that earlier and more accurately', says CEO Janny Peltjes of HLB† In the past, you took a sample, sent it to a laboratory and the grower received an analysis and advice after an average of 2 to 3 weeks. New technology now makes it possible to monitor the soil fertility during the growing season of the crops.

The portable soil scanner Soilcares Scanner measures the soil status in the field quickly, robustly and inexpensively and provides advice on the smartphone within 10 minutes. At the moment there is already a liming and an editing app.

More apps in the works
The apps are continuously updated and expanded. Apps for irrigation, fertilization, silage, granulate, crop and harvest time are in the making. In the future, HLB/Soilcares also wants to scan the underwater weight of potatoes, sugar content in beets and protein content in grain. The gross price of the scanner is around 3.000 euros, depending on the package or combination subscriptions. 

Full field lab
In addition to the hand scanner, the parties are also introducing the Lab-in-a-box (LiaB) at the same time, which makes a complete soil analysis within 2 hours without the use of chemicals. 'A fully-fledged replacement for a laboratory that is especially interesting for large companies', says Henri Hekman, CEO and founder of SoilCares.

The price is around one ton. The equipment contains sensor technology based on infrared (NIR/MIR) and X-ray (XRF) and converts the measurement of a sensor, based on the calibration database, into the chemical characteristics of the soil. HLB also links a practically applicable and complete advice to this soil analysis.

According to the developers, the new precision soil farming services will enable farmers and growers to have better soil information quickly, affordably, anytime, anywhere and to sustainably increase yields.

Lab-in-a-box (LiaB) 

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