Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to map the health of soils in Europe and model solutions to guard against the worst impacts of climate change.
A new ‘EU soil health data cube’ is being described as “a prototype digital-earth-twin” by AI 4 Soil Health – a partnership of researchers, charities and companies from across Europe who are working to use AI to better monitor and predict soil health.
The cube is essentially a map of European soil health that will allow users to analyse and test soil management practices that deliver environmental benefits and predict the impact of different climate change scenarios.
Almost one hundred scientists have contributed to the project, which integrates hundreds of thousands of observations and data points on soil, climate and vegetation using a multidimensional matrix powered by AI and high performance computing.
It enables users to monitor key soil health factors, including pH levels, soil carbon, and biological parameters over time with weather and climate data down to a spatial resolution of 20 to 30 metres.
Farmers will be able to access and view historical (starting from the year 2000) and future patterns of soil health based on different climatic and land use scenarios. The tool is also designed to help land managers and policy workers identify regions where soil health is at risk and highlight areas that need urgent restoration.
“This is probably the most sophisticated soil health modelling framework to date and will be an indispensable tool for those involved in regenerative agriculture, carbon farming, and those looking to change farming land use systems – such as realising soil carbon sequestration potential, shifting to agroforestry and similar,” said AI 4 Soil Health scientist and OpenGeoHub Foundation director Tomislav Hengl.
“We will be able to provide the modelling capability to empower them with real world evidence while significantly reducing the cost, time and labour involved in traditional soil monitoring practices.”
The AI 4 Soil Health partnership hopes to have a soil health app available in 2026, accessible to all, including farmers, from a mobile phone.
