Meet SoilBeat: “The threat of food security is real”

SoilBeat is a digital platform for farmers and agricultural advisors that helps facilitate the transition to regenerative farming. And the incentive is clear, “If we keep going in the direction we’re headed, soon enough we’ll reach the point where the soil has been depleted altogether and it will no longer provide our food. The threat of food security is real and ultimately threatens our existence,” Debra Aurich underscores their effort’s urgency.  

Debra: “Once farming starts to be regenerative, the advantages are manifold. When the soil becomes healthier, we can reduce the use of chemicals on crops, our food becomes healthier, and more CO2 emissions are being stored as well. This isn’t just good for the planet, it’s great for business, too.”  

Both public and planetary

But transitioning is not necessarily easy. “Regenerative farming requires a far more holistic point of view that takes into account the interaction between soil and crop,” says Debra.“This requires more data than usual. An adequate platform to collect this type of data and translate it into actionable strategies was lacking. That’s why we decided to build it.”

Farmers tend to lack nitty-gritty insight into their crop’s wellbeing as well as the technological expertise to cater to their crop’s very precise needs. As a result, they are generally inclined to over-fertilize and under-nurture. To alleviate this, SoilBeat offers sap analysis on crops. This provides real-time insight into the nutrients that are actually available for the plant’s growth and development. By analyzing the sap, farmers can detect nutrient deficiencies or excesses early on, allowing for timely and very precise fertilizer adjustments to improve both plant and soil health. This increases yield, enhances quality, and boosts natural disease resistance.

“Our platform now allows farmers an altogether new and accessible way to translate their long-term visions into concrete, manageable steps that can be implemented easily to drive measurable progress towards the kind of farming that ultimately benefits both public and planetary health,” according to Debra.  

Tailormade support

SoilBeat participated in the BeStart program in 2023. Debra: “We had just surpassed our proof of concept phase and were looking for investors to turn our idea into an actual company. Hence, we were in need of fundraising. But, how to find suitable investors, how to interact with them, how to negotiate the terms of your agreement? BeStart’s guidance has been invaluable in this regard. It has allowed us to lay our financial foundations.”

Finding investment is never a one size fits all, she says: “At the moment we came into the program, we had very specific questions based on our development stage at that point. BeStart was ready to give us the tailormade support we needed to move forward.”

A kind of qualifier

“Also, the exposure to and interactions with the other participating startups gave us so many new insights. Being in touch with other cutting edge startup companies required usto be flexible and perceive things from different perspectives,” she adds, “and what’s more, it feels good to feel part of a greater ecosystem of likeminded companies that are trying to make a difference.”

“Our participation in the BeStart program surely helped us to find funding. It breeds trust with potential funders. Our participation in the program turned out to function as a kind of qualifier, because this respected external party had already reviewed and endorsed our work and ideas,” according to Debra.

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