Australian Startup ‘FarmLab’ on a mission to improve the earth’s soil
Date:12-05-2019
To coincide with World Soil Day on 5 Dec, FarmLab announced the launch of it’s new soil management tools for Australian farmers. The software is a major move for FarmLab on it’s mission to help farmers better manage soil. Developed in partnership with the University of Sydney, Agrivision consultants and Andrea Koch Agtech as part of the Landcare funded ‘Soiltech Project’, the new tools use gamma rays from the earth’s surface along with other publicly available information to help farmers visualize the soil across a property. Farmers can then sample their soil with the help of a mobile app to help understand their soil properties and nutrient levels.
“Not only does the software help farmers reduce the cost of inputs, it helps them more sustainably manage their land by understanding changes in their soil over time, something that’s absolutely critical in light of the current drought,” says Sam Duncan, CEO at FarmLab. “We’re also exploring it’s potential for use in other areas, such as carbon capture and storage to help farmers mitigate against climate change.”
Some of the code for the tools will be open sourced as part of the Soiltech project, and early users of the platform can get access to create zones for their first 1,500 hectares of soil for free. Early trials of the software have been positive, with several successes across farms to date.
“The balance of cost and accuracy offered by the software gives our agronomists confidence in the recommendations, while still offering a cost-effective solution for the farmer,” says Agronomist, Milton Curkpatrick, early user of the tools and General Manager of Armidale based Precision Pastures.
Currently soil mapping and testing is an expensive process, requiring expensive hardware and software to undertake.
“To use our system you don’t have to start with any soil data sets or conduct expensive mapping across a paddock,” says Sam, “users just need to upload a boundary of their farm or paddocks and then all publicly available data for that area is pulled into the system.”
FarmLab are based out of the Smart Region Incubator at the University of New England, Armidale.
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