Soilytix blog https://soilytix.com/blog Method notes, research, field reports, policy and news from the Soilytix lab in Hamburg and our scientists: how we read soil, and what we find in it. en-GB Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://soilytix.com/apple-touch-icon.png Soilytix blog https://soilytix.com/blog The EU Soil Monitoring Law: what it requires, and when https://soilytix.com/blog/eu-soil-monitoring-law-what-it-requires-and-when https://soilytix.com/blog/eu-soil-monitoring-law-what-it-requires-and-when Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Policy Soilytix Europe's first soil law is in force. What the directive asks member states to monitor, and the end-2028 deadline for writing it into national law. What is blocking land restoration: scale and standards https://soilytix.com/blog/what-is-blocking-land-restoration-scale-and-standards https://soilytix.com/blog/what-is-blocking-land-restoration-scale-and-standards Wed, 11 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT Research Soilytix The science of restoration exists. Getting it from pilot plots to hundreds of thousands of hectares, and comparing results, is the hard part. Andreas Jacobs joins our Board as Chairman https://soilytix.com/blog/andreas-jacobs-joins-our-board-as-chairman https://soilytix.com/blog/andreas-jacobs-joins-our-board-as-chairman Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT News Dr. Bruno Steinkraus The former Chairman of INSEAD and Barry Callebaut joins the Soilytix Board as Chairman. Norman Gentsch joins Soilytix as Head of Agronomy https://soilytix.com/blog/norman-gentsch-joins-soilytix-as-head-of-agronomy https://soilytix.com/blog/norman-gentsch-joins-soilytix-as-head-of-agronomy Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT News Cleiton Sena A soil scientist who farms, on turning lab measurements into interpretations an advisor can act on. Four rooms, four different questions about soil https://soilytix.com/blog/four-rooms-four-different-questions-about-soil https://soilytix.com/blog/four-rooms-four-different-questions-about-soil Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Field report Soilytix Investors, biocontrol developers, breeders and soil scientists ask four different questions. One measurement problem sits under all of them. Soil health finally got its own day at a UN COP https://soilytix.com/blog/soil-health-finally-got-its-own-day-at-a-un-cop https://soilytix.com/blog/soil-health-finally-got-its-own-day-at-a-un-cop Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Policy Soilytix What the declaration actually commits anyone to, and what it leaves out. Three of five goldmine soil samples had no DNA left to measure https://soilytix.com/blog/three-of-five-goldmine-soil-samples-had-no-dna-left-to-measure https://soilytix.com/blog/three-of-five-goldmine-soil-samples-had-no-dna-left-to-measure Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Field report Soilytix What an exhausted soil looks like when you sequence it, and why the result still matters. We are going to Barcelona to argue that soil is not financeable yet https://soilytix.com/blog/we-are-going-to-barcelona-to-argue-that-soil-is-not-financeable-yet https://soilytix.com/blog/we-are-going-to-barcelona-to-argue-that-soil-is-not-financeable-yet Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Policy Soilytix Why we went to Norrsken Impact Week to argue that soil is close to financeable, and that the gap is measurement, not appetite. Why we read soil in four layers https://soilytix.com/blog/why-we-read-soil-in-four-layers https://soilytix.com/blog/why-we-read-soil-in-four-layers Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Method note Dr. Matthias Schaks Landscape, physics, chemistry and biology: why any layer you leave out still shapes the result, and gets credited to the wrong thing. Introducing LOAM: learning biology from long-read soil metagenomes https://soilytix.com/blog/introducing-loam-learning-biology-from-long-read-soil-genomes https://soilytix.com/blog/introducing-loam-learning-biology-from-long-read-soil-genomes Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Research Tim Rajakumar Quentin Ferry LOAM, a family of four genomic language models trained on long-read soil metagenomes: the benchmarks, four findings and open weights. Let the ground truth decide where to look https://soilytix.com/blog/let-the-ground-truth-decide-where-to-look https://soilytix.com/blog/let-the-ground-truth-decide-where-to-look Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Research Tim Rajakumar Quentin Ferry How field evidence from disease-suppressive soils and LOAM narrow the search for new crop-protection actives. When the same seed gives different answers (G×E) https://soilytix.com/blog/when-the-same-seed-gives-different-answers-gxe https://soilytix.com/blog/when-the-same-seed-gives-different-answers-gxe Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Research Julien Winkel The same variety, from the same batch, performs differently field to field. Genotype by environment, explained. From genus to species: why full ITS beats ITS1 https://soilytix.com/blog/from-genus-to-species-why-full-its-beats-its1-for-fungal-profiling https://soilytix.com/blog/from-genus-to-species-why-full-its-beats-its1-for-fungal-profiling Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Method note Dr. Matthias Schaks Extended-read sequencing now reads the whole fungal barcode, and species-level resolution comes with it. "But you're also measuring dead DNA, right?" Yes, and here's why that's not a flaw. https://soilytix.com/blog/relic-dna-soil-metabarcoding https://soilytix.com/blog/relic-dna-soil-metabarcoding Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Method note Dr. Matthias Schaks Soil DNA carries an echo of recently living cells. Why that is information, not noise. Nematode pests: detect them before they cost you https://soilytix.com/blog/nematode-pests-detect-them-before-they-cost-you https://soilytix.com/blog/nematode-pests-detect-them-before-they-cost-you Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Method note Dr. Matthias Schaks By the time a field shows symptoms, nematode populations are already at damaging levels. DNA finds them sooner. Oomycota are not fungi, and that mistake is costing you data https://soilytix.com/blog/oomycota-are-not-fungi https://soilytix.com/blog/oomycota-are-not-fungi Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT Method note Dr. Franziska Böwer Oomycetes look like fungi but are not, and a 16S and ITS workflow misses them entirely. Soil texture is not a background variable. It is a confounder. https://soilytix.com/blog/soil-texture-is-not-a-background-variable https://soilytix.com/blog/soil-texture-is-not-a-background-variable Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT Method note Dr. Franziska Böwer Texture changes how every other soil reading behaves. Compare microbiomes without it and the pattern will not hold. Soilytix joins the NVIDIA Inception programme https://soilytix.com/blog/soilytix-joins-the-nvidia-inception-program https://soilytix.com/blog/soilytix-joins-the-nvidia-inception-program Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT News Soilytix Soilytix has been accepted into NVIDIA Inception, the programme for start-ups building with AI. A triage framework for soil health analysis https://soilytix.com/blog/triage-framework-for-soil-health https://soilytix.com/blog/triage-framework-for-soil-health Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT Method note Soilytix Testing every hectare in depth costs too much. Like medicine, soil analysis needs triage. Microbes as miners: how MICP is transforming bioremediation https://soilytix.com/blog/microbes-as-miners-how-micp-is-transforming-bioremediation https://soilytix.com/blog/microbes-as-miners-how-micp-is-transforming-bioremediation Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT Research Berenice di Biase How microbes that bind soil with a biological cement are changing soil stabilisation and clean-up. Soilytix, SLM Partners, Nogam and Migdalo launch a soil microbiome study to enhance nut quality and yield https://soilytix.com/blog/slm-soilytix https://soilytix.com/blog/slm-soilytix Fri, 04 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT News Soilytix A soil microbiome study with SLM Partners, Nogam and Migdalo across Portuguese nut orchards.