SENSE4SOIL
Context
Soil health degradation due to water scarcity and progressive salinization is already a key challenge for horticulture and citrus farming, especially in southeastern Spain. This situation is exacerbated by climate variability, intensive irrigation, and the use of lower-quality water, while many decisions continue to be made with fragmented or poorly integrated information.
Although technologies such as soil sensors, satellite data, meteorological services, and artificial intelligence already exist, most still operate in isolation. The challenge lies not in a lack of tools, but in the absence of integrated, validated, and truly useful solutions for anticipating soil degradation and improving decision-making in the field.
The SENSE4SOIL subproject
To bridge this gap, SENSE4SOIL (Innovative Real-Time Monitoring & Decision Support Services For Soil Health, Salinity And Irrigation Optimization) offers an integrated real-time monitoring and decision support solution designed for deployment and operational use in agriculture. The innovation lies not in deploying complex or experimental instrumentation, but in integrating mature technologies into a coherent, decision-oriented system. SENSE4SOIL integrates:
(i) field soil sensing
(ii) Earth observation using Sentinel-2,
(iii) external meteorological data services (Weatherbit) and
(iv) an AI-powered DSS within a single digital platform.
In this way, SENSE4SOIL allows continuous monitoring of soil moisture dynamics, early identification of salinity risk, and contextualized support for irrigation decision-making.
SENSE4SOIL subproject is funded by the open call of ICOSHEELS. The European Commission and the Beneficiaries have signed the Grant Agreement no. 101157394 for the implementation of the project INNOVATIVE CO-CREATION OF SOIL HEALTH LIVING LABS (iCOSHELLs) within the framework of the Horizon Europe Program (the “Grant Agreement”).
