Measurement
SensorC is developing compact electrochemical sensors that remain in-situ. Instead of relying on isolated sampling events, the platform is designed to provide continuous observations of dynamic carbon and nutrient signals.
“Demand for decision-grade, nature-related data is set to grow exponentially in the coming years.”
The gap
Point sampling and laboratory analysis of carbon and nitrogen is costly, intermittent and spatially sparse. Together, they establish baselines, reveal spatial patterns and support decisions across farms, landscapes and national monitoring programs. Proximal, satellite and predictive measurement platforms are powerful, but the quality of these models is ultimately reliant on accurate input data from direct soil measurement.
Closing the temporal gap
Increases in global model sophistication have not eliminated the need for observations through time. A review of 250 soil organic carbon models identified a critical shortage of independent validation against observed time series (Le Noë et al., 2023). Sampling month alone can account for 15–32% of random variation in soil organic carbon measurements (Wuest and Durfee, 2024).
The challenge
The widespread uptake of direct soil measurement at this scale will require an order-of-magnitude reduction in the time and cost of analysis.
What the science says
“Field-deployable, multi-sensor systems are needed for cost-efficient soil C accounting.”
“The lack of rapid and relatively cheap methods for accurate monitoring of SOC contents is a main bottleneck for large-scale monitoring.”
Eurofins Agro & WUR, 2023
“Soil sampling programs typically cannot meet MMRV challenges because of the cost of sampling and analysis…”
Our solution
Where we fit
SensorC is not intended to replace laboratory analysis. Laboratory measurements remain essential for calibration, validation and formal reporting. SensorC adds information between those measurements, helping identify trends, detect unexpected change and determine when targeted sampling is most valuable.
Connecting the system
More frequent direct observations can strengthen proximal sensing, remote sensing and predictive models by providing the temporal evidence they currently lack. SensorC connects what is happening at the soil interface with the systems used to interpret and manage it.
