Objectives of the service
Mainstream agricultures are currently relying on one set of soil properties per field, neglecting the variability of these properties. In the emerging practice of digital farming, soil variability is a serious factor to include in your data stream. But traditional ways of creating soil variability maps are expensive and hence hardly requested by farmers. Our approach provides an alternative to that, making soil variability maps affordable. In particular our digital support to guide soil surveyors or the farmer self to the right locations to take samples is a big improvement.
Users and their needs
The smart farmer is our main targeted user. This farmer wants to know, have visualised, the different zones in his field that have discriminating soil properties. That requires a smart soil sampling approach, which means that his derived need is to get a map of proposed sampling locations. Advisors have similar needs. Even soil laboratories can use our method, to make a more competitive offer of soil mapping. The project investigates at first the needs of farmers in The Netherlands, without limiting to this country.
Service/ system concept
Our service is to provide an analysis of fields regarding different soil zones and transform that into a list of sampling locations. The lab results of these samples will be worked through into a actionable soil map for the farmer.
Space Added Value
Our method first of all relies on Earth Observation where we integrate different sensors to create our base map. Secondly, Satellite Navigation is used to guide the person to the right sampling location.
Current Status
The project has now moved from concept to a working solution: we’ve fully developed the satellite-driven soil-mapping workflow and are running a pilot with a selected circle of Dutch farmers. Their feedback on the tailored soil maps and variable-rate machinery guides final refinements before wider roll-out.
Prime Contractor(s)
Subcontractor(s)
