Site-specific soil management platform for climate-adaptive agronomic planning

Overview

This solution addresses the need for real-time, localized spatial soil information to guide agronomic planning under climate change conditions. The company has implemented a site-specific management (MSE) methodology that validates multiple soil parameters on industrial-scale farms growing crops such as solanum tuberosum (potato), Pisum sativum (pea), and Acca sellowiana (feijoa). Geostatistical processing through R and RStudio generates contour maps by variable, which are used to define site-specific management zones for irrigation, chemical availability, and tillage. The approach helps growers move from uniform field treatments to variable-rate applications tailored to within-field variability.

Technical specifications

Soil variables captured and processed:

• Cone index (compaction resistance)
• Electrical conductivity (SDT)
• pH
• Volumetric moisture content
• Matrix potential
• Macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium
• Secondary nutrients: calcium and magnesium

Geostatistical processing:

• Built on R and RStudio for contour map generation by variable
• Minimum of 50 paired data points required to produce reliable contour maps
• Sampling on rectangular grids of 40 to 50 points per lot
• Tested on 2 to 4 hectare plots at multiple time points across a crop cycle

Future capture device:

• Integrated sensors for force and depth to estimate chemical parameters, volumetric humidity, and matrix potential
• Built-in GPS for georeferencing
• Wireless connectivity that transmits captured data to a companion application
• Display for in-field visualization

Technology readiness level

The geostatistical processing methodology and site-specific management workflow have been validated on industrial-scale farms through field sampling campaigns and desktop analysis using RStudio. Current validation relies on external sampling and laboratory analysis paired with desktop geostatistics. The proposed integrated capture device, which would automate in-field measurement of physical and chemical soil variables and stream data to an app, represents the next development stage and is not yet validated as a finished product.