FarmLab can now add hardware to its suite of carbon measurement tools thanks to its acquisition of Ziltek, a fellow Australian company that’s best known for its portable, in-field soil scanner called RemScan.
FarmLab offers various software tools aimed at measuring soil remotely. Up to now, the company has primarily worked in agricultural settings in Australia and the US. The Ziltek acquisition will widen both the company’s base of customers and its potential use cases for the technology, Sam Duncan, cofounder and CEO of FarmLab, tells AgFunderNews.
“By bringing RemScan into FarmLab, we’re filling a critical gap in our offering and dramatically reducing the cost of environmental testing, without compromising accuracy or usability.”
Financial terms of the deal are not disclosed.
Reducing the cost of soil measurement
FarmLab customers are currently interested in measuring regenerative agriculture practices, a key component of which is soil carbon, Duncan says.
Today, the FarmLab platform provides multiple software-based tools that enable remote measurement of soil, including satellite imagery and a mobile app.
However, many FarmLab customers still collect in-field soil samples in addition to using that remote measurement. This dual approach helps users meet high-integrity measurement protocols such as Verra’s VM0042 and the Australian Clean Energy Regulator’s Soil Carbon method.
“Taking a hybrid approach, incorporating RemScan into that in-field measurement process helps us further reduce the cost of measurement by supplementing the lab testing process with high quality, MIR [mid-infrared] measurements of soil,” explains Duncan.
Measurements from RemScan provide not just the percentage of soil carbon present in a sample but also type, pH level, and cation exchange capacity—key factors in determining overall soil health as well as its potential for sequestering carbon. Duncan says FarmLab is now working to embed the technology in soil-testing labs in Australia and the US, to “support the reduction in measurement costs by up to 50% for a single soil carbon test.”
Ziltek’s device uses infrared spectroscopy to probe the soil for analysis. A single, 20-second scan can replace up to six pieces of lab equipment, according to Ziltek, enabling more frequent sampling and, hopefully, better data.
“Most soil carbon projects currently rely on sparse sampling every few years,” explains Duncan. “With RemScan, we can build a time series of measurements, and couple these with our AI spatial mapping tools to help producers and project developers better understand soil carbon flux and the impacts of management practices.”
Use cases for and beyond agriculture
RemScan has uses beyond agriculture, too, with oil, gas, and land remediation being a few additional areas.
Over the next few months, FarmLab will integrate RemScan into its platform while continuing to support existing Ziltek customers.
As such, the entire company will rebrand itself to GEXLab (Geo Exploration Lab) in the near future.
“Because we’re inheriting about 80 existing customers who are already using the technology for soil remediation around the world, we need to broaden the brand to meet the increased market scope,” says Duncan.
“Some of those clients include global oil and gas companies working to remediate sites, and scientific divisions in Antarctica using the technology to reduce their environmental impact. As a result we thought moving the business to a more general name ‘GEXLab’ would be more suitable.”
He’s quick to add that the company will continue to support agriculture, however. “We’re already piloting various regenerative protocols in Australia and have finished our first soil carbon project in Saskatchewan.”
Outside of the Ziltek deal, FarmLab is also partnering with Meat and Livestock Australia to build a network of soil sample locations for Australia’s first-ever soil carbon map to a depth of 30cm.
The map provides farmers and supply chains with a tool to assess soil organic carbon changes from their supply sheds in Australia, says Duncan.
“We’ve already proven it as an accurate and cost-saving tool for measuring soil carbon in the generation of Australian Carbon Credit Units, he says. “We’re extending it now to support the calculation of emissions for the Australian livestock sector, and are in early discussions for use in insetting programs by CPGs and global restaurant chains.”
