In an earlier career I was a fertilizer company agronomist for twenty years. I am quite fascinated by what these guys are attempting but not quite sold.

I have sampled tens of thousands of acres. I drove around in an ATV sticking a metal probe in the ground, usually around seven inches down. I would sample at multiple spots depositing the soil into a plastic bucket. Then I would mix the soil cores and come up with an average that I would place into a paper bag and mail off to the lab.

There's a lot of science around the standard soil sampling method accurately reflecting what is going on in the soil. Just sampling the surface, even if it is done accurately can in no way represent what is going on in the soil.

I wish them luck, if they had a mini-lab I could use at the fertilizer plant to get faster results back to farmers and be able to make lime and fertilizer applications in the fall which would bring the plant more revenue I'd be much more interested.