Nematode communities have been trusted indicators of soil health for decades, but the process of identifying types and numbers in any given soil sample remains costly and time consuming, says Ziad Matar, cofounder and CEO of Veridi Technologies.
Nematodes are microscopic worms that occur in all soils and feed on bacteria, fungi, plants, and other matter. Some are parasitic to crops, livestock, or humans. Others can be used to attack harmful insects and protect crops.
“They have a really central role within this whole food web,” explains Matar.
The number and diversity of nematodes in any given location will fluctuate based on the biodiversity makeup of the soil. For example, a larger population of nematodes (both beneficial and harmful ones) typically indicates healthier soil that’s rich in organic matter.
“If any major disturbances happened to the soil in the last several years, this is directly reflected in nematode population numbers and diversity,” he says.
Veridi, which Matar founded alongside Richard Janissen and with support from former CEO of Bayer Vegetable Seeds Joachim Schneider, has developed an automated platform for analyzing nemotodes in soil samples, making the process faster and cheaper than has historically been possible.
In other words, AI is counting and categorizing those nematodes instead of a human.
“We address a bottleneck [in the process] because access to expertise [of nematodes] is more and more scarce,” says Schneider. “By not needing experts, we democratize the whole thing—anybody can do it, even large agricultural corporations, consultants, etc.”
Europe’s soil challenge
The European Commission estimates that 60–70% of soils in the EU are degraded, costing the bloc around €50 billion ($55 billion) each year. A new Soil Monitoring Law, introduced in 2023 and currently going through the legislative process, aims to ensure soil is used “sustainably” in the future.
It also opens up potentially big opportunities for technology focused on soil improvement.
“[The Soil Monitoring Law] says everybody with responsibility for a piece of soil must establish a record of the current state of affairs [about the soil], and also develop a program of how, within a number of years, that status can be improved,” explains Schneider.
“Over time, many more people that have previously not been interested in soil will have to look at theirs, take samples, and design a program for improvement,” he adds.
Streamlined microscopy
Microscopy, the current go-to method for identifying nematodes, involves extracting those nematodes from a soil sample and having experts counting hundreds of them under a microscope at a very high magnification to determine different varieties.
To streamline the process, Veridi scans the sample under a precision microscope, which uses machine learning to understand what is inside the sample cell. In other words, it automates the process of identifying nematodes.
“Instead of having someone counting nematodes, you extract the nematode solution from the soil, it’s plugged into an automated microscope, and within three clicks it scans and gives you the results,” says Matar.
This in turn means that Veridi’s offering can “plug seamlessly” into existing laboratory workflows around soil diagnosis.
The platform also directly sends users information about the soil which can be plugged directly into existing agronomic models that give advice on what steps to take next.
That might include, for example, recommendations on specific crop protection products to use, what to add to the soil, and even which crops to grow.
In addition to diagnosing soil biodiversity, the platform can also scan for plant parasitic nematodes that pose a danger to crops, helping growers take early action to protect plants.
‘Accessible, available, cheap’
Veridi says its entire process can be 10x cheaper than traditional methods, and 10–20% more accurate.
“Obviously, someone could also today send samples to a lab, which would be slower and more expensive, but could still work, and they would get the same kind of advice,” says Schneider. “What we hope to do is multiply the number of samples being taken, because it’s accessible, it’s available, it’s cheap.”
Currently, the company works with laboratories that already do soil biodiversity analysis, including those with governments.
“Governments see that there’s a really big problem when it comes to soil degradation, which causes concern for food security,” says Matar.
Along those lines, The European Union’s EIC Accelerator issued a €2.5 million ($2.7 million) grant to Veridi in February of this year.
“This will be to accelerate R&D, launch the project in key geographies, and prepare pre-market activities,” says Matar.
That includes making some key hires, mostly engineers and scientists, and financing and shipping more machines in the near future.
