The new app could help farmers cut carbon emissions.
SoilEssentials has launched a new app to help farmers assess the health of their soils and cut carbon emissions.
The Brechin company says its new SoilBio app is based on four years of work collaborating with space industry engineers and soil biologists, including staff at the James Hutton Institute.
“Many of the techniques used to protect and build soil fertility, by their nature, help to ensure the function of soils as carbon stores is also enhanced,” said SoilEssentials sales director, Robert Ramsay.
“And, as government advisors are now keen to highlight, locking carbon into soils is going to be critical in the fight against climate chaos.”
He said SoilBio uses three years of satellite imagery to detect areas of good and poor performance.
“Then a soil sample is taken from each of these zones and the DNA of the nematodes present is extracted,” added Mr Ramsay.
“The variation within this nematode community can be seen. Indicative indexes are used to numerically evaluate the soil health. These are compared to the considerable database held at James Hutton Limited.”
