What went right this week: treating the ‘untreatable’, plus more

Soil. It’s the foundation for terrestrial life, yet we know relatively little about what’s beneath our feet. However, that looks set to change thanks to a groundbreaking innovation that could have big implications for farmers and the planet.

The Earth Rover Program uses seismology technology pioneered by the oil and gas industry to scan the ground, providing information on soil health, soil density and moisture levels – intel that could help farmers avoid unnecessary irrigation and fertiliser use.  

It’s something that existing methods, which rely on digging up the soil, struggle to do because they are time-consuming, expensive and disruptive to the soil.

George Monbiot, an environmental journalist involved in the project, said that the cost of the technology has fallen from £7,500 per sensor to £75, making it more accessible. “In time, we should be able to use the accelerometers in mobile phones, reducing the cost to zero,” he wrote for the Guardian. “Eventually, we hope, any farmer anywhere, rich or poor, will be able to get an almost instant readout from their soil.” 

This, he added, would take a lot of guesswork out of agriculture, enabling farmers to boost yields while putting less into the soil.   

Image: Gabriel Jiminez