PotatoEurope 2026 and the launch of the betterSoil Farm Assistant
At PotatoEurope 2026 betterSoil launched the Farm Assistant, highlighting satellite-based soil intelligence, field-specific crop rotation recommendations, and data-driven tools to support more sustainable and resilient potato farming.
betterSoil at PotatoEurope 2026
PotatoEurope assembles the international potato industry to explore the latest innovations, technologies and practical solutions shaping the future of potato farming. In this leading event, betterSoil brought its focus on digital innovation and soil health to the heart of the potato sector, connecting with growers, researchers, agronomists, and industry professionals. This year was particularly significant as we officially launched the betterSoil Farm Assistant app, a new digital solution designed to support farmers with accessible, practical insights for better farm and soil management.
Introducing the betterSoil Farm Assistant
The Farm Assistant is a field-level decision-support tool combining satellite-derived soil data, climate information, agronomic knowledge, and the farmer’s personalised agriculture objective to support data-driven crop planning.
Its field-level crop rotation engine generates multi-year rotation recipes tailored to local field and climate conditions, combining cash crops such as potatoes with secondary and cover crops while estimating nitrogen fixation, nitrogen uptake, and carbon removal in above- and below-ground biomass.
The satellite-based soil intelligence feature combines Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite data, NDVI, and 25 years of weather information to assess field conditions, generate 10 x 10 m soil fertility maps, and identify suitable temperature and rainfall conditions for crop growth.
The platform’s data integration framework brings together real-time satellite data, global information from the Soil Grids databank, crop-specific agronomic rules, and scientifically reviewed crop properties to provide nutrient and carbon estimates. Future support is planned for farmers’ own soil sampling data.
Through the interactive crop rotation simulator, users can select crops, filter them by crop family, and arrange them on a calendar to plan multi-year rotations. The platform evaluates an Agronomic Score, which assesses soil-health factors, and an Economy Score, which estimates profitability based on nitrogen balance and fertilizer replacement value.
Why farming needs smarter crop rotation
The betterSoil Farm Assistant is designed to make complex agricultural data easier to use in everyday farm planning. Farmers can provide simple inputs such as GPS location, field selection, and crop selection, while the system brings together satellite-based soil data, satellite-based climate and weather data, soil-property information, and crop-property data. The crop rotation recipe algorithm processes these inputs to generate field-specific recommendations and soil fertility insights. Farmers can then use the crop rotation simulator to design and compare multi-year rotations, while the soil fertility provides a field-specific view of soil conditions.
Highlights from PotatoEurope 2026
PotatoEurope 2026 was held on September 9-10 at Rittergut Gestorf in Springe near Hanober, Germany, bringing together more than 300 exhibitors from across the potato and sugar beet value chains.
Day 1 focused on live machinery demonstrations, trial fields, and expert sessions on cultivation, breeding, and sustainable storage. The betterSoil team showcased the Farm Assistant live, giving visitors an opportunity to explore its key features. We demonstrated field-specific potato crop rotation recommendations, the interactive crop rotation simulator, and the soil fertility map powered by Sentinel-2 satellite data from the European Space Agency.
Day 2 continued with advanced machinery and smart storage technologies, alongside discussions on soil health, crop rotation, and climate-resilient farming. Our team had valuable conversations with Laurens Verburg (crop-consult.nl) about nitrogen management and Wageningen University’s nitrogen calculator, which considers the last 10 years of crop history; Dr. Abhishek Mani Tripathi (Macrocosmos Creations) about satellite-based soil analysis across 14 parameters; and Joachim Rentel (Hesab Software & Electronics) about yield mapping and the connection between machinery and field-level data.
Conclusion: taking the next step together
PotatoEurope 2026 marked an important milestone for betterSoil, with the launch and live demonstration of Farm Assistant. Over two days, the event brought valuable discussions, new connections, and insights from across the agricultural sector. The experience highlighted the growing role of soil intelligence, data, and technology in making farming decisions more informed, practical, and sustainable.