Syngenta announced the signing of a licensing agreement with HL Hutchinsons (HLH) to offer agronomists and farmers an improved soil mapping and sampling service that began in continental and Eastern Europe.
The service, Interra Scan, allows agronomists and growers to make informed decisions for soil stewardship and crop management with up to 27 layers of information on soil health, according to a release.
“It allows growers to understand the texture, nutrient and carbon content of their soils in order to optimize nutrition and carbon capture,” said Mark Hall, head of Sustainable and Responsible Business EAME. “Interra Scan takes over 800 data reference points per hectare, showing more details and geospatial differences than other mapping techniques such as drones, satellites, or grid sampling. Interra Scan can be described as the equivalent of an all-round medical check-up for humans, but for soil.”
The agreement reinforces Syngenta’s commitment to support growers in their journey to create healthy soils.
“Finally, soil health is plant health. This is why we are investing into innovative solutions like Interra Scan. In the past, growers would treat the entire field in the same way. With Interra Scan, they know exactly what to apply where and how much of it, making the most of precision technology,” said Alexandra Brand, regional director EAME. “As an additional benefit, growers can optimize input costs on fertilizers, seeds and lime, which is even more important in the current economic situation.”
The process for collecting the data requires only two steps. First, gamma ray detection technology by SoilOptix is used to scan the soil. This maps “the common nutrient and physical soil properties and physical soil samples are collected,” shared the release.
Then, soil data, raw scan and soil samples are combined and processed to create up to 27 high resolution soil property layers. Growers can view the results in a soil properties map through a digital platform and then develop rate application maps to utilize in their crop input applications.
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