Accessible soil insights for more productive and sustainable smallholder horticulture

We are therefore looking for a practical, technology-driven solution that can make soil quality insights more accessible and affordable for smallholder and small commercial farmers. The solution should ideally help farmers and agricultural advisors understand soil conditions in a clear and actionable way, and translate data into practical recommendations for crop nutrition, soil improvement, and sustainable farm management.

For Holland Greentech, the ideal solution would not only generate reliable soil data, but also be usable in real farming contexts: affordable, scalable, easy to explain to farmers, and suitable for integration into advisory services, input planning, and farmer training. We are especially interested in solutions that can support more precise fertiliser use, improve crop performance, reduce input waste, and strengthen climate-smart and regenerative horticulture practices.

Through this challenge, we aim to explore how digital soil intelligence can be combined with Holland Greentech’s local farmer networks, agronomic knowledge, and practical field experience to create a solution that supports better decision-making at farm level. The expected outcome is a concept or pilot that helps farmers become more productive in a sustainable way, while making soil health management more accessible to the farmers who need it most.