Digital Corner: A More Insightful Look at Soil Sampling With Soil Scanning Technology

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Article by Dale Cowan
Agronomy Strategy Manager and Senior Agronomist
AGRIS Co-operative - CENTRAL OFFICE

The first step in determining nutrient applications is understanding which nutrients are needed and at what rates. A current soil test—no older than four years—is essential to help determine nutrient requirements and maintain 4R Stewardship Certification. At AGRIS, we offer several soil sampling programs tailored to meet the unique needs of our customers, ranging from composite samples every 25 acres to more advanced Grid and Zone sampling.

The next evolution in soil sampling is leveraging soil scanning technology from SoilOptix®. This cutting-edge technology is perfect for farmers who want to understand soil properties in greater detail and at a higher resolution. The detailed information from soil scanning can guide not only fertility applications but also scripts for variable rate seeding and variable rate nitrogen application, based on soil properties that were previously inaccessible at affordable rates.

We use the SoilOptix® scanner to capture the soil’s natural radiation, which allows us to identify the unique mineral composition of the soil. This data links directly to the distribution of specific nutrients throughout the soil profile. With this technology, we can create highly detailed soil texture maps, showing the percentages of sand, silt, and clay, as well as plant-available water and leaching indexes across the field, in addition to traditional nutrients.

This scanning technology provides a new perspective on nutrient distribution based on unique soil minerals and physical properties. As a result, the nutrient maps for potassium, phosphorus, and other elements look quite different than those generated by traditional methods.

The process is straightforward: we drive over the field with the scanner to collect sensor data and identify where to take soil samples. The collected data is then sent to SoilOptix® for further processing, and the soil samples are sent to a lab for analysis. Once both the scanned data and lab results are complete, they are merged, and the final maps are integrated into our system. This detailed process takes longer than traditional soil sampling, so we recommend allowing an additional week for results.

Our service provides map layers for pH, BpH, organic matter, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), cation exchange capacity (CEC), base saturations, zinc, manganese, sand percentage, silt percentage, clay percentage, relative plant-available water, and relative infiltration index.