Autonomous soil health monitoring services for net zero agriculture

我们的土壤在全球范围内正在迅速枯竭。根据联合国粮农组织的说法，按照目前工业化农业的速度，我们可能只剩下60个收成了。总部设在美国的萨沃里研究所表示，世界上70%的草原正在退化。这不仅是一个粮食安全问题，也是一个气候变化和自然环境问题。管理不善的土地释放出温室气体，加剧了全球变暖。然而，把重点放在种植土壤上，同时生产我们需要的食物，我们可以从大气中隔离碳，恢复健康的土壤生态系统。现有的土壤监测解决方案劳动密集型和成本高昂。这些数据的分辨率和实时性都很差。新的、技术驱动的替代方案，如地球观测(EO)系统，降低了土壤健康数据的成本并提高了及时性，但基于历史土壤模型和当地亚表层变化，准确性可能较低。下一代手持土壤监测系统即将上市，这将使农民和农学家能够对他们自己的土壤进行现场、“田间实验室”式的分析。随着更经济的机器人技术，同时降低农业企业的采用门槛和提高土壤健康数据的质量成为可能-验证沿途的再生农业过程，并帮助我们的食品供应链过渡到净零。强劲的数据将使新的商业模式和收入来源随着围绕碳和生物多样性信用的市场出现而打开-使英国农业企业更有利可图，更具弹性，确保未来的粮食供应，同时为子孙后代保护自然环境。Listt.io正在提出这项可行性研究，围绕Net Zero农业的自主土壤健康监测服务。该项目的结果将是一项市场研究，基于对学者、研究人员、农业企业和农民的结构化采访，围绕他们对土壤健康数据的需求和使用。在商业案例开发活动的同时，将建造一个低成本的概念验证自主土壤健康测量机器人，用于真实农业环境中的演示目的。该项目完成后产生的商业产品将在英国和更远的地方扩大规模，帮助英国成为全球市场(如农业)高价值技术的净出口国。Listt.io通过开发贴近最终用户的数据驱动的解决方案来支持DEFRA未来的农业计划，它将直接为农业的战略主题--劳动力短缺、粮食弹性、强大的农业企业和净零雄心--做出贡献。

Our soils are fast depleting globally. According to the UN's FAO agency, at the current pace of industrialised agriculture, we may only have 60 harvests left. The US-based Savory Institute states that 70% of the world's grasslands are degraded. This is not only a food security issue, but one of climate change and natural environments. Poorly managed land releases greenhouse gases, exacerbating global warming. However, with a focus on building back soil while producing the food we need, we can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and restore healthy soil ecosystems.Existing solutions for soil monitoring are labour-intensive and costly. The resolution and real-time nature of this data is poor. New, technology-driven alternatives such as Earth observation (EO) systems lower the cost and improve timeliness of soil health data, but accuracy can be low, based on historical soil models and local sub-surface variations. The next generation of handheld soil monitoring systems are coming onto the market, which will allow farmers and agronomists to conduct in-situ, 'lab-in-field' type analysis of their own soils.With more economical robotics, simultaneously lowering the barriers of adoption and increasing the quality of soil health data for agricultural businesses becomes a possibility - validating regenerative agricultural processes along the way and helping our food supply chain transition towards Net Zero. Robust data will allow new business models and revenue streams to open up as markets around carbon and biodiversity credits emerge - making UK farming businesses more profitable and resilient, securing future food supplies while safeguarding natural environments for future generations.Listt.io is proposing this feasibility study around autonomous soil health monitoring services for Net Zero agriculture. The outcomes of the project will be a market study, based on structured interviews with academics, researchers, agronomy businesses and farmers around their need and use for soil health data. In parallel to the business case development activity, a low-cost proof of concept autonomous soil health measurement robot will be built, to be used for demonstration purposes in real farming environments.The commercial offering resulting from the completion of this project will scale in the UK and further afield, helping Britain become a net exporter of high value technologies in global markets, such as agriculture. Supporting DEFRA Future Farming initiatives by developing data-driven solutions close to the end user, Listt.io will directly contribute to strategic themes in agriculture - labour shortages, food resilience, robust agricultural businesses and Net Zero ambitions.