Traditional soil lab analysis that underpins carbon markets has a problem; it’s expensive. Fields aren’t sampled frequently or at the density needed to provide accurate, full field results. Currently only 20% of US farmland is tested and even that is only tested every 3-5 years.
Lab analysis is slow, can involve harmful and toxic chemicals, and often doesn’t measure carbon sub-pools, required to estimate permanence or sequestration.
Miraterra estimates the existing market for soil testing in North America at 12 million samples a year. At $12.00 per sample, this is a $144M market annually.
Miraterra is using proximal sensing that is precise, fast, and clean to provide soil health, nutrient, and carbon measurement with unrivalled accuracy at an unmatched cost.
Miraterra introduces a completely new way to look at soil. The project will advance revolutionary innovation in Raman spectroscopy – Miraterra’s novel sensor.
Miraterra’s sensor technology reduces operational costs of soil carbon measurement, with a sensor that unlocks unprecedented fast and affordable complex materials analysis for soil testing labs.
Its Raman sensors provide near instantaneous measurement of soil pH, soil organic carbon, organic matter %, and importantly carbon contained in subpools of organic matter (i.e. particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral associated organic matter (MAOM)). This technology is fast, provides scans at approximately one-third the cost of conventional sampling, eliminates the need for toxic chemicals in conventional soil carbon sampling, and will be deployable in-field. The Raman sensor is part of a suite of Carbon MMV products being developed at Miraterra.
