RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH has been awarded a silver medal at the AGRITECHNICA Innovation Award for one of the world's first digital service for real-time estimation of soil accessibility and thus avoidance of unnecessary soil damage.

SoilControl was developed in cooperation with the Swiss digital specialists for agronomy and technology from Agricircle. Online and completely up-to-date, the bearing capacity of the soil is displayed on digital maps on an area-by-area basis.

Sentinel satellite data provide information on soil type and moisture. AI algorithms process the satellite data with special weather and soil models. From this, the bearing capacity of the soil can always be estimated up to date. Data on the weight and tires of the respective tractor and implement are now entered on the Internet or on a mobile device. SoilControl compares the load-bearing capacity of the soil with the ground pressure of the working machine and displays the trafficability of the areas on a digital map in a 10x10 m pattern. Different levels are distinguished, from green „passable“ to orange „risky“ to red, where irreversible soil damage and sinking of the machine are to be expected.

Expensive and time-consuming preparations and the way to the agricultural cultivation area are omitted and the good functionality of the soil is maintained. Especially in the case of more distant areas, unnecessary travel is saved. TerraService also offers a good decision-making assistance for tractor and tire selection or also for loading the equipment depending on the trafficability.

Especially in spring, when the first fertilizer is applied, the time window for completing the work is very small. Soil moisture in agricultural fields is often high, and fertilizing on frost is no longer permitted by law. Large heavy agricultural machinery causes deep ruts in the soil. This can lead to the machines getting bogged down and causing long downtimes and recovery costs.

If the sequence of operations is planned well in advance, sinking of the agricultural machinery can be avoided. The lane planning is designed in such a way that non-load-bearing areas are left out, areas that are difficult to drive on are avoided or are worked on later. In addition, the planning of the field sequence can be ideally adapted to an existing weather forecast.

The RAUCH SoilControl is very versatile and can be used for various agricultural work processes such as fertilization, slurry application or plant protection and supports the farmer and contractor in maintaining a good soil condition and soil structure and avoiding downtime and costs.

SoilControl will be verified again on large-scale tests in spring 2022, a market launch is planned from fall 2022.