A piece of paper no bigger than a business card, AgroPad could enrich struggling coffee farmers and their soil, a growing challenge as temperatures rise and prices fluctuate.
Enveritas, a U.S. non-profit, signed an agreement with International Business Machines Corp (IBM) on Thursday to pilot the AgroPad, which analyzes soil samples remotely and quickly.
Powered by Artificial Intelligence, the AgroPad can perform a chemical analysis in 10 seconds, reading nitrate or chloride levels from a drop of water or small soil sample, said IBM.
Enveritas plans to provide the devices for free to farmers in coffee-growing regions of Latin America and Africa and IBM said it aims to make them affordable for everyone. Its target production cost – less than 25 cents.
Coffee farmers have been struggling with a slump in global prices while climate change is threatening vast swathes of land in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Chemical analysis of soil is vital to improve yields but is complicated, expensive and time consuming as it needs laboratory equipment, said Mathias Steiner from IBM Research – Brazil.
Last week, engineers from Britain’s Brunel University also unveiled an AI device for farming – small red pods, costing £92 ($118) each, that could be planted into the soil.
The pods collect hourly data and would show farmers what the soil needs and where. ($1 = 0.7794 pounds)
