In-Field and Beyond: How Soiltech Helps Add Value During and After Harvest

As harvest ramps up for many crops across the country, it’s go time for growers, agronomists, and farm managers—and a perfect moment to highlight how versatile the Soiltech Beacon really is! Often called the Swiss Army Knife of agricultural sensors, harvest is where that versatility shines brightest.

From timing to traceability, and from crop protection to postharvest storage, Soiltech Beacons and the Soiltech Insights platform provide real-time visibility and decision support—before, during, and after harvest.

Optimize Harvest Timing Without Extra Field Visits

For root vegetables like potatoes and onions, Soiltech Beacons deliver real-time readings of soil temperature and moisture at root zone depth. These metrics help determine optimal harvest windows—when soils aren’t too hot or too wet—reducing the risk of storage issues later.

Because multiple fields can be monitored remotely, growers can skip unnecessary drives and instead make data-driven calls about when to start or stop digging. Harvest can be paused if the soil temperature spikes too high, helping prevent hotspots and spoilage down the line.

For soybeans, a Beacon mounted within the canopy tracks temperature, humidity, and degree days—helping determine the ideal moment to combine when the canopy is dry and gumminess risk is low.

Soiltech Beacon placed in the soil hole at root zone depth to track temperature and moisture, giving growers real-time data to optimize harvest timing and protect storage quality.

Use Bruise Mode to Detect Risk and Reduce Crop Damage

During harvest and sorting, Bruise Mode can turn a Soiltech Beacon into an in-line damage detector. This is a game-changer for crops like potatoes, onions, and flower bulbs that are prone to impact injuries during handling.

Beacons ride along on harvesters or conveyors, logging data on drop heights, impact severity, and vibration zones. Boundaries can be set to flag areas of concern. One potato grower used a Beacon to identify a critical impact point—ultimately installing belting cushions that prevented thousands of dollars in crop damage.

Bruise Mode is especially valuable when calibrating new or modified equipment, helping teams dial in machine settings that minimize bruising and maximize marketable yield.

GPS + Insights: Make Load Tracking Effortless

The GPS-enabled Beacons pair seamlessly with the Soiltech Insights platform to create a field-to-storage chain of custody that’s automated and traceable.

Every load ticket can be tracked securely within the platform, eliminating the risk of lost paper records. As loads move to storage, Insights allows tickets to be assigned to specific storage bays or bins, providing granular visibility for auditing, inventory management, and food safety compliance.

Soiltech Insights enables full load traceability from field to storage

Protect Quality in Storage with CO₂, Temperature, and Humidity Monitoring

For potatoes, onions, beans, grains, and other stored crops, Soiltech Beacons continue working after harvest. Just add the storage cap and antenna to enable in-storage sensing.

Beacons can now track:

• CO₂ concentration
• Relative humidity
• Ambient and pile temperature

Rising CO₂ levels often precede spoilage and sugar conversion in stored crops. Catching a spike early can give a 2–3 day head start on correcting conditions—whether through ventilation or other adjustments.

One user noticed CO₂ levels exceeding 12,000 ppm during ventilation shutoffs. That insight led them to shift to continuous airflow, potentially preventing large-scale spoilage.

Even better: Beacons integrate well with existing grain bin monitors, making them an affordable and easy-to-deploy addition to postharvest management stacks.

Conclusion

At Soiltech Wireless, harvest decisions are designed to be based on real conditions, not gut feel. That’s why the Beacon was built: a simple, powerful tool delivering full-season value—from preharvest soil insights to postharvest CO₂ monitoring.

As a trusted partner in agronomy, logistics, and storage, Soiltech helps make every pass count, every dollar stretch, and every acre more efficient.

Soiltech Beacons transform crop data into actionable insights that boost yield and traceability while reducing damage and inputs