How Boomitra’s AI Measures Soil Carbon
“It's not my job to parachute in from Silicon Valley into your small village and tell you what to do,” says Boomitra CEO Aadith Moorthy.
But farmers and ranchers around the world might at least want to hear him out. Boomitra can help them improve agricultural practices, store more carbon in their soil, and, through carbon credits, make them more money.
In an interview with The Point Cloud at the AIM for Climate Summit in Washington, D.C., Boomitra explained how Boomitra measures carbon soil levels through a combination of on-the-ground samples, satellites, and artificial intelligence.
The Point Cloud is Agerpoint’s interview series featuring leaders at the intersection of climate, agriculture, nature, and technology. Watch and read highlights from the conversation below. You can also hear the full interview as an audio podcast on your favorite platforms.
Soil Samples + Satellites + AI = Carbon Measurement
To build their models, Boomitra relies on “large amounts of ground truth data” from millions of soil samples, which Boomitra uses to calibrate “a separate system for each major part of the world.”
Image data is fused together from multiple satellites. Using that satellite data as an input, the company’s AI system outputs soil carbon metrics.
Moorthy explains how the combination of AI and ground truth turn space-based images into something useful.
“Satellites - they only see the counts of photons of a particular wavelength from a particular location on the Earth,” he says. “Then it's upon us using an AI system or otherwise to kind of derive some kind of useful insight.”
“We tend to use an AI system that's calibrated with large amounts of ground truth data, and that enables us to translate those numbers of photons into actionable information.”
10 Million Tons and Counting
Moorthy estimates there are around 10 million tons of carbon “that our farmers and ranchers have collectively sequestered.” But that’s “just the tip of the iceberg.”
It’s a metaphor that’s threatened by climate change - and one Moorthy hopes to preserve.
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