Company unveils cutting-edge imaging tech for soil mapping

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This article was published 18/01/2024 (871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TerraWave Radar Solutions introduced its latest innovation, TerraSence, to farmers and stakeholders at the Manitoba Ag Days Innovation Showcase on Wednesday.

The company’s chief technology officer, Hannah Fogel, told the Sun the product is a cutting-edge surface and subsurface imaging technology.

“It is essentially a sensing system designed for measuring elevation maps of the soil and imaging below the soil surface,” she said. “This innovation allows for the assessment of crucial factors such as soil moisture and soil compaction.”

Fogel said the company was prompted to develop TerraSence to eradicate the limitations of existing technologies in soil mapping, which are often prohibitively expensive for individual farmers. The existing technologies are typically outsourced to third-party services, as these mappings are conducted infrequently, sometimes just once a year.

“The idea behind our product is that it would be more compact and more affordable,” she said. “A farmer can purchase a unit mount — it could be on a drone or could be on a sprayer or a tractor — and be in charge and collect data when they’d like to have the data.”

Although TerraSence is not yet available for sale, she said the response from the agriculture community has been overwhelmingly positive. TerraWave, she added, has received significant interest from attendees at the Innovation Showcase, with about 50 individuals expressing keen interest and providing their contact information for future updates.

“We’ve had a lot of interest, and I think people liked the idea of something that they have a little bit more control over and you could use throughout the season,” Fogel said. “The ability to collect data throughout the season, even when crops are above ground, sets TerraSence apart from existing solutions.”

She said her company is poised to fill a critical gap in the industry by offering a more accessible and farmer-centric soil mapping solution, noting as the technology continues to evolve, it holds the promise of revolutionizing precision agriculture, allowing farmers to make informed decisions and optimize their yields.

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