A NEW app is set to be available next year which will allow potato growers to benefit from complex soil analysis on their mobile phone.
Around 100 scientists contributed to an EU project which integrates hundreds of thousands of observations and data points on soil, climate and vegetation using a multidimensional matrix powered by artificial intelligence and computing. The resulting Soil Health Data Cube map currently spans from the year 2000 up to 2022 and is already 30TB in size, while newer data will continue to be added.
AI 4 Soil Health scientist and OpenGeoHub Foundation Director Tomislav Hengl said: “We have created a prototype digital-earth-twin – a map of European soil health which will enable users to analyse and test soil management practices to deliver better outcomes and environmental benefits and to predict the impact of different climate change scenarios. This is probably the most sophisticated soil health modelling framework to date and will be an indispensable tool for those involved in regenerative agriculture.”
The Soil Health Data Cube Map enables users to monitor key soil health factors, including pH levels, soil carbon, and biological parameters over time with weather and climate data. Its spatial resolution is down to 20 or 30 metres with the addition of vegetation cover and most recently over 20 million European crop field boundaries so growers will be able to access and view an accurate picture of the farms, exploring historical and future patterns of soil health based on different climatic and land use scenarios.
The team will continue to develop the data cube over the next three years by populating it with additional data together with new remote sensing data.
AI 4 Soil Health’s Project Manager Mogens Humlekrog Greve from Aarhus University said: “With the EU’s Soil Health Monitoring Law under consideration, this innovation gives us an incredibly useful way of identifying regions where soil health is at risk, highlighting areas that need urgent restoration. This holistic approach enables continuous monitoring and detailed insights into soil health across Europe, promoting better soil management practices. We are proud that the data is open and available to a diverse range of users so everyone can benefit.”
The AI 4 Soil Health partnership is confident it will have a soil health app available in 2026.
