SoilRob Team Contributes to the Anniversary Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS)

Three members of the SoilRob young talent group participated in this year's IUSS Congress in Florence from May 19-21, 2024, where the centenary of the Union was also celebrated.
Through several keynote talks, the broad and diverse range of presentation sessions, and exchanges with other soil scientists, we were able to gain many new insights.

Sessions on topics such as soil health and its quantification, digitalization and sensors, as well as current erosion research, were of particular interest to us. Additionally, we had the opportunity to contribute with our own presentation, delivered by Dr. Kathrin Grahmann, attended by around 40 people. In the talk titled "Potential of Autonomous Field Robots to Improve Soil Health in Diversified Cropping Systems: A Promising Tool to Boost Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture?", preliminary results of a literature review on the impact of field robotics on soil health were presented after an introduction highlighting the need for and potential benefits of field robotics in diversified cropping systems.

It became particularly clear that there are very limited studies on this topic so far. The fact that this was the only presentation at the conference dealing with field robotics further emphasizes how important it is to give this topic more attention in soil science. Along with all the scientific input and output, we, of course, also had the opportunity to explore the beautiful city of Florence.