A Californian firm that applies neural biocomputing to sustainable farming has developed software that uses machine learning to help farmers and agronomists pinpoint what their crops and soils need to boost yield in a sustainable way.

Biome Makers together with Bayer Crop Science have published initial results of soil analysis performed by the software to assess effectiveness of Bayer´s biological fungicide Minuet. The Biome Makers software allowed Bayer CS to predict potato yield improvement before application of the input. The predicted result was a yield bump of up to 40% in one of the fields tested in Idaho.

Gheom is designed to gauge biological product efficacy accurately by analysing the soil microbiome. 

According to Biome Makers, currently agronomic recommendations are based on little knowledge of the biological processes occurring in it. The availability of an AI virtual assistant to help predict the effect of different solutions can help improve farming productivity and sustainability.

Input manufacturers can add their own, custom solution to the AI recommendation system by testing it under the Gheom field trials protocol, a service Biome Makers offers.

The joint publication presented by Biome Makers and Bayer CS offers a new perspective on crop input efficiency and sustainable agriculture, with implications on how traditional agronomists and retailers recommend products as well as how farmers manage the long-term health and productivity of their fields.

“Combining this breakthrough technology with the entire toolbox of precision agriculture, such as self-driving tractors and precision spraying applications, allows us to imagine a bright, new future of secure and sustainable farming worldwide,” said Alberto Acedo, Chief Scientific Officer at Biome Makers.

“It’s a unique approach to utilise soil biology and optimise the use of crop inputs moving forward towards sustainable and economically favorable solutions to improve crop productivity,” said Varghese Thomas the project leader at Bayer CS.

A number of international companies that produce biostimulants, soil amendments and biofertilisers are using Gheom to test solutions. 

Terravesco is a California manufacturer employing this protocol to analyse their organic worm-based soil amendment. Dr. Paul Zorner, Chief Agronomist for Locus Agricultural Solutions said, “We are very excited to be working with Biome Makers. They have a remarkable platform for truly beginning to understand metagenomic functionality as it relates to soil health. You can’t optimise what you can’t measure, and we feel that the Gheom platform is a significant step towards unraveling the elegant aspects of microbial soil ecology and its impact on crop productivity”.

LIVENTIA is assessing how their microbial biostimulants based on microbial consortia impact the ecological balance of soils, promoting effects like root growth, nutrient uptake, and stress tolerance to boost yield and crop quality. 

Fertile Ground is another company sourcing the program to validate their product performance. Other companies like Sustainable Growing Solutions or the European manufacturer, Bioiberica, are already using protocol results to confirm the functional claims of their products for different crops such as vineyards, lettuce, or olive trees.

“This data-driven assistant is a game-changer to upgrade agronomic advice on fertilisation and crop protection programmes, including biologicals, in an integrated management approach” states Juan Jose Chavez, the Product Manager for Advanced Analytical Services in DISAGRO, the international crop input retailer based in Central America.

Currently, select growers in the US and EU can test the recommendation system with complimentary functional soil analytics for their fields.