The soil is more than just a substrate; it is a complete support system for the plant's root activity. For example, the proportion of fertilizer applied to a field that is transformed into crop versus the fraction that ends up as Greenhouse Gases depends almost exclusively on the community of microorganisms that inhabits the soil.
A productive, profitable, and sustainable agriculture relies on healthy soils, and knowing their biological conditions in real-time is fundamental for precise and timely interventions that boost productivity while preserving the soil's biological activity and carbon balance.
Joana Macagno is developing portable, cheap, and safe paper-based colorimetric soil tests that could allow farmers to evaluate biological parameters in the field using a smartphone's camera. Her fellowship is part of a collaboration between the , led by Dr. Emanuel Carrilho, and her home laboratory at , tutored by Dr. Maria Lucila Satuf.
We thank everyone involved for their efforts, which underscore the ultimate goal of biotechnology: the development of a practical solution.
