Revolutionizing Soil Health Monitoring
How Edapholog Technology is empowering growers to measure soil health through AI
Soil health lies at the heart of sustainable food production, yet decades of intensive farming practices have left our soil degraded and infertile.
This is a global concern that key stakeholders are willing to address.
At Syngenta, we are committed to improving soil health and biodiversity through sustainable farming practices.
While we are already implementing practices to restore biodiversity and improve soil health, we recognize the need for more on-the-ground data to understand the impact of these practices. Currently, monitoring is costly, labour-intensive, and generates fragmented data. Automatic sensor technologies using AI can help address these issues and provide more accurate and comprehensive data.
Edapholog at a glance
Syngenta has embarked on a ground-breaking journey, teaming up with the Institute for Soil Sciences, Budapest, Hungary and start-up EDAPHONE Kft to introduce a technology that combines classic soil assessment techniques with cutting-edge artificial intelligence, enabling accurate monitoring of soil biological quality and biodiversity, known as Edapholog technology.
Understanding Edapholog's Unique Approach
Edapholog's uniqueness lies in its fusion of the Berlese-Tullgren funnel technique with cutting-edge artificial intelligence. This innovative combination allows it to assess soil microarthropod biodiversity, a critical factor for nutrient cycling, decomposition, and humification. Following the extraction of soil microarthropods from samples, Edapholog measures diversity, abundance, biomass, and identifies them at the taxonomic level to calculate the Soil Biological Quality Index (QBS-ar). This index provides a comprehensive snapshot of soil health, offering insights that were previously hard to come by.
Classic soil extractor funnel
Berlese, 1905 (source: Soil Fauna Assemblages, Cambridge Press 2019)
Edapholog 1.0
The journey of Edapholog
In 2021, the Edapholog journey began with a prototype hardware deployment in partnership with ASDA and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust in the UK. This deployment marked a significant milestone, as it enabled both the tallying and advanced taxonomy identification of soil microarthropods. Valuable feedback from this pilot initiative was not merely acknowledged but actively integrated into the development process. This iterative approach led to the launch of Edapholog 1.0 in early 2022, complete with an autonomous sensor and a user-friendly digital app for automated soil biodiversity evaluation.
Fifty sensors were then developed in 2022 and implemented into pilots in thirteen European countries with various stakeholders from growers to researchers to advisors to draw soil insect data from various soil types, develop the AI database, as well as get feedback on user friendliness and the demand.
Edapholog Digital App
Edapholog Digital App
"Soil quality is essential for me as a grower, everything starts with a good soil. I am therefore very pleased to be able to measure the actual impact of different agricultural practices on my soil with this soil sensor. The Interra Farm is ideal for this because we experiment here daily with new agricultural practices."
Syngenta's Investment in Soil Health
Syngenta's commitment to advancing soil health is evident not only in their partnership but also in their investment in Edapholog for research and development purposes.
Vasileios Vasileiadis, Global Lead, Digital Sustainability Products:
"We are conducting small- and large-scale R&D trials using Edapholog to monitor soil biological health in order to understand the impact of regenerative practices like minimum tillage, cover crops, and biostimulant use, which will further support us in providing tailored advice to growers to help improve soil health using regenerative agricultural practices."
Edapholog technology, born from collaboration between an industry leader & researchers, is poised to revolutionize soil health assessment
With its ability to provide accurate, on-the-ground data, it holds the potential to reshape sustainable farming practices and address the global concern of soil degradation. Syngenta's unwavering commitment to advancing agriculture sustainability shines through this transformative journey. As we look to the future, Edapholog promises to provide substantial benefits not only for growers but also for researchers and the environment, paving the way for a more sustainable and food-secure world. Together, with innovative solutions like Edapholog, we can cultivate a brighter future for generations to come.
Are you interested in purchasing the Edapholog technology and getting access to our tailored data provision service? Send us an email to know more at edapholog.technology@syngenta.com
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