MOTIIVI – Mobiilikäyttöinen mittalaite maaperän tiivistymisen seurantaan

Julkinen hankekuvaus

Project summary

Soil structure regulates many of the processes that are essential for soil functions and the ecosystem services it provides, such as water absorption and retention and the cycling of nutrients. Soil compaction is a growing problem for farmland, affected by the increasing weight of agricultural machinery.

The main goal of project is to develop an easily portable measuring device that measures soil compaction and moisture at different depths, and automatically saves the measurements and their location information to a mobile user interface. Through the mobile user interface, the farmer can enter additional information such as soil type. Based on the measurements accumulated in the user interface and their locations, moisture distributions can be drawn on field-specific maps. Based on measurements taken in consecutive years, it is possible to make block-specific comparisons of the distribution of moisture and compaction on field plots. Based on block-specific maps, problematic areas in terms of moisture or compaction can be identified in the plots that would require special measures.

The MOTIIVI project is planned to be implemented in collaboration between Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), and University of Turku (UTU). The project will work closely with farmers in the Häme region, and the methods to be developed will be tested and piloted in real conditions on farms in the region.