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betterSoil - for a better world

betterSoil makes farmer’s businesses climate fit with regional-specific scientific recipes for improved soil health

74% of the world’s poor are negatively affected by soil degradation. In principle every farmer is negatively affected by the adverse effects of climate change and the negative implications on soil. A large majority of our food products have their origin in agricultural production and therefore on soil quality. Hence, direct betterSoil beneficiaries are farmers, especially those located where impacts of climate change are biggest – hundreds of millions of farmers in the Global South. Indirect beneficiaries are companies along the whole value chain of the food and agricultural sector and finally all humans consuming agricultural goods. Beneficiaries in the wider sense are ecosystems, their flora and fauna and finally the world’s biodiversity and the climate system. betterSoil works with two types of clients: local farmers, mostly in the global south, and focal companies in the global north that process and sell agricultural products to consumers. Economic turbulences and effects of climate change increase cost (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides) for farmers which is especially the case in dry and poor regions. Crop yields are under pressure due to scarcity of production factors from soil degradation and limited availability of water. This effects both types of betterSoil customers. betterSoil creates a circular economy by using organic waste to produce the “betterSoil booster” from compost and biochar for purchase. Combined with consultation services on the betterSoil booster application in combination with agroforesty systems and soil management practices, farmers increase soil health and water use efficiency. Input costs are reduced and crop yield and quality increase. Focal companies at the other end of the value chain co-finance betterSoil implementing the change in the direction of the aforementioned agricultural practices. Their influence helps the transition in their own interest because their supply chain becomes more resilient against economic and climatic turbulences.

Location
Germany, Ulm


Part of
Startupnight 2023