Radicle Agronomics is an automatic system for soil sampling and analysis of soil samples. The soil is collected manually by a person driving e.g. a quad bike and placed in round plastic containers equipped with RFID tags by a special equipment mounted on the quad bike. The containers are automatically tagged with coordinates. No labels or handling of sampling bags or paper boxes are needed.
In a mobile soil laboratory of only 3x3 meters, named Radicle Lab, the analyses are then completed, fully automatically. In addition to P, K and pH, the lab also handles magnesium, calcium, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation level. Nitrogen, however, is not included. The cloud-based software integrates sampling, mapping and analysis in a single platform. The target audience is said to be agronomists who want to deliver better nutrient management recommendations as well as end-users, farmers.
The capacity is 200 samples per day. The business model is a combination of leasing ($13,000 USD per year) and cost per sample ($5.50). The concept was tested in 2022 and presented at Agritechnica 2023. No one in Sweden has yet tested the concept. The quality of the analyses is still unknown, but the company says that they have methods for calibration and points out that quality is also about taking many samples and preferably more often than is usually the case with regular soil sampling. Precision Planting is based in Tremont, Illinois, USA.
Bonus knowledge
This is how the company describes this lab on its website:
"Radicle Lab™ is the world's first fully automated soil laboratory. Its small footprint, self-calibration technology, and thebility to run hundreds of samples unattended allow agronomists to simplify their workflow. The revolutionary, patent-pending Microflow™ technology built into Radicle Lab™ removes all human touches which occur during the traditional laboratory process."