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.