First soil scanning campaign

NTERESH launches first soil scanning campaign under Experimental Action #2

INTERESH has launched the first soil scanning campaign under Experimental Action #2, focused on fertigation and water management. The operations took place on 28 October 2025.

The action addresses the over- and under-application of irrigation water and nutrients, a recurring issue that reduces crop performance and consequently results in inefficient resource use.

Building on the technique developed and validated through the ADDFerti project, the INTERESH project team is refining a precision fertigation solution for tomato cultivation, combining advanced soil sensing, machine learning and geospatial modelling within a hose-reel fertigation system featuring four-section control to better manage variability within the field. While previously introduced in Belgium exclusively for freshwater applications, the approach is now being adapted within INTERESH to enable the use of recycled water, including rainwater, with the aim of strengthening the sustainability of the water cycle.

The campaign was carried out at Azienda Agricola Dell’Aquila in the province of Foggia, a family-run farm established in 1952, active in livestock breeding as well as industrial crop production, including durum wheat and tomatoes. During the fieldwork, researchers from Ghent University and the University of Foggia mapped the experimental plots through proximal soil sensing combined with targeted soil sampling to characterise the spatial variability of nitrogen (N) and other key soil nutrients. Over approximately five hours of fieldwork, this process resulted in the collection of around 80 soil samples across two tomato fields.

The collected samples are currently undergoing laboratory analysis at Ghent University, where nitrogen levels and other key soil nutrients will be examined in detail to support the next phase of the experimental work.

Further updates will follow as Experimental Action #2 progresses.