Low-cost sensor tracks soil pH continuously for months across varied soils

by Alexander Servantez, University of Colorado at Boulder

edited by Swati Mestri , reviewed by Robert Egan

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Add as preferred source A close-up of the pH electronic sensor device. Credit: CU Boulder At first glance, a farm field doesn't seem all that complicated. It's just dirt and crops.

But among the landscape lies one of Earth's most complex ecosystems—a bustling network of microbes, nutrients, roots and chemical reactions that quietly govern the health of every harvest.

For years, understanding what's happening beneath that surface has been one of agriculture's biggest challenges. Important soil and plant indicators, like pH, microbial activity and plant physiology, are always changing yet notoriously difficult to track in real time.