Keeping Cows Happy and Soil Healthy With AI and Open Source Data Management

To map every gene in the human body, scientists around the world collaborated for more than a decade, from 1990 to 2003. Thanks to their work, entire vistas of medicine have opened up, from new diagnoses to drug regimens tailored to an individual's genetic makeup. What if, posits Dorn Cox, a produce farmer in New Hampshire, the same could be done for the world's soil? With detailed knowledge of the nutrients in their soil, farmers could better tend their dirt and significantly reduce negative environmental impacts. For example, they could better learn what to plant and when, or how to maximize soil nutrients and track carbon content (more carbon in the soil means less carbon in the atmosphere).