A piece of paper no bigger than a business card could enrich struggling coffee farmers and their soil, a growing challenge as temperatures rise and prices fluctuate.
Enveritas, a
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
Enveritas plans to provide the devices for free to farmers in coffee-growing regions of
The non-profit, which works with 100,000 farms, mills and estates in
Coffee farmers have been struggling with a slump in global prices while climate change is threatening vast swathes of land in
Enveritas, which verifies the sustainability of coffee farmers, said most of its growers live on less than
Chemical analysis of soil is vital to improve yields but is complicated, expensive and time consuming as it needs laboratory equipment, said
AgroPad costs less and could reduce the use of fertilisers, which would save money and help the environment, said Steiner, one of its inventors.
Last week, engineers from
The pods collect hourly data and would show farmers what the soil needs and where.
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(Reporting By Thin
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