The Soil CRC is seeking investors and development partners for our QUOLL® soil health monitoring tool and BANDICOOT® soil profiling tool. We publicly listed these novel tools on the AgriFutures growAG innovation platform this week, marking an important milestone in their pathway to market.
Regular readers of our newsletter will be familiar with these two devices, developed by the Soil CRC and researchers from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture at the University of Tasmania.
The QUOLL® e-nose is a low-cost, user-friendly tool that aims to help farmers monitor soil health in real-time by detecting the volatile organic compounds being released by the soil’s biology. The device builds on existing e-nose technology and has been tested in laboratory and field trial settings, with promising results.
The BANDICOOT® is a rugged, portable tool that enables multi-depth soil profiling. The device delivers real-time, GPS-tagged insights into moisture, salinity, and compaction, exactly where and when growers need it.
The Soil CRC is looking for partners to support product development and commercialisation pathways, as well as industry groups to assist with integration into existing soil health frameworks.
The Soil CRC’s Intellectual Property Officer, Dr Rhona Hammond, said, “This is a very exciting step which takes us closer to getting these devices into the hands of Australian farmers. We are also working to list other devices and services, as they become ready.”
Expressions of interest are requested via the growAG website by 30 June 2025. Visit the product listings to find out more:
Related information
Image caption: The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture’s Simon Edwards, Daniel Gardner and Chris Boucher deploying the QUOLL® e-nose at the Forthside Vegetable Research Facility (Source: Jemima Hamer, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture).