Integrated Rocky Mountain-region Innovation Center for Healthy Soils

🐏🌿🌏 New research Colorado State University's College of Agricultural Sciences is putting AI to work for soil health. The USDA-funded 🌱TerraScope Project🌱 is combining field data and satellite remote sensing to deliver practical, farmer-informed tools that improve soil resilience and decision-making across Colorado. By collaborating with producers from day one, researchers are ensuring the technology is reliable, usable, and built for real-world conditions.

Read a recently published CSU SOURCE article highlighting this work: https://natsci.source.colostate.edu/csu-project-uses-ai-to-turn-soil-data-into-actionable-insights-for-farmers/.

In this article, IN-RICHES co-director, Dr. Megan Machmuller, describes how this tool project is designed with producers data needs at the forefront.

Researchers will use AI to improve soil health for agriculture Colorado State University researchers are using AI to help farmers improve soil health and resilience in the USDA funded TerraScope project.

Big news from CSU and IN-RICHES! 🌏🐏🌿

IN-RICHES and CSU College of Agriculture scientists increased Colorado’s soil moisture monitoring capacity by 60% by installing dozens of new sensors statewide — with more on the way thanks to new funding. With interest in soil moisture skyrocketing, this data is supporting farmers, foresters, water managers, weather forecasters, researchers, and communities across the state. Thanks to a collaboration with CSU's Department of Computer Science, we’ve launched a new web-based platform where anyone can explore historical and real-time soil moisture data.

Read our recently published CSU SOURCE article about this initiative: https://source.colostate.edu/soil-moisture-system-will-yield-information-for-farmers-foresters-and-forecasters/

Learn more about the💧𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵💧Soil Moisture Monitoring platform and try the tool yourself from our website: https://www.inrichsoil.com/quench

Thank you to our incredible team of collaborators:
Western Resilience Center
Colorado Mountain College
Aspen Global Change Institute
Colorado Department of Agriculture
Colorado Department of Natural Resources
National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)
Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District
Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes

And our financial supporters: Colorado River District
Conscience Bay Research
plus a CO Congressionally Directed Spending Request.

Link in bio tool: Everything you are, in one simple link | Linktree

IN-RICHES and friends had a great time attending the Conference on January 23–24 in Montrose, CO. Leadership team member, Dr. Lexi Firth, shared findings from the Colorado Soil Health Program, and we had the chance to reconnect with several of our Discovery Farms producer partners along with many collaborators and friends. Always one of our favorite conferences. Thoughtful speakers, great conversations, and a strong sense of community around the work. Looking forward to carrying these ideas back into the field this year. .annaclare

Soil moisture is one of Colorado’s most important water reservoirs, yet today’s monitoring networks fall short in accurately quantifying this resource. We are excited to introduce 💧Quench💧— an open platform that brings soil moisture data together in one place.

The Quench Open Knowledge Platform brings data collected from in-situ soil moisture sensing stations across a range of monitoring networks into one easy-to-use platform. Users can view current conditions, compare trends across regions, and access satellite-derived soil moisture data. Quench is developed by and hosted in partnership with collaborators from CSU Department of Computer Science , working closely with IN-RICHES.

Visit our website to learn more and to access the Quench tool! https://www.inrichsoil.com/soil-moisture.

Thank you to our incredible team of collaborators:
Colorado Climate Center
Western Resilience Center
Colorado Mountain College
Aspen Global Change Institute
Colorado Department of Agriculture
Colorado Department of Natural Resources
National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)
Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District
Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes

And our financial supporters:
Colorado River District
Conscience Bay Research
plus a CO Congressionally Directed Spending Request.

Still buzzing from REGENERATE 2025! 🌱✨

Huge thanks to everyone who showed up ready to dig deep, ask sharp questions, and get their hands a little dirty with us. Your passion for soil health fuels our work every day.

If you missed our DIY Soil Health Workshop, click the link below to access the toolkit for FREE!
https://www.inrichsoil.com/resources

We are so grateful for for co-developing this resource with us!

Colorado State University College of Agricultural Sciences

Last week, we had the privilege of sharing our do-it-yourself soil health assessment toolbox with conference attendees at REGENERATE 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Thank you to Quivira Coalition for co-creating this toolbox with us, and for coordinating such an incredible gathering! If you were not able to attend our workshop, do not worry. The DIY Toolbox for Soil Health Assessment is available on our website: https://www.inrichsoil.com/resources. We are also creating video tutorials for each test. Stay tuned for more info!

Quivira Coalition
Holistic Management International
American Grassfed Association
Colorado State University College of Agricultural Sciences

Join us at the Western Colorado Farm & Ranch Innovation Expo this week! Come visit us at the IN-RICHES table to learn about our exciting soil health work on the Western Slope.
https://www.shavanocd.org/farm-ranch-innovation-expo.html

**Free admission. Live demos. Smarter ways to work your land.**
Here’s a glimpse at what’s planned across three days of learning and field demos ⬇️
**Thursday, Nov. 13 – Water Innovations**
💧 N-Drip demonstration
💧 Field prep for no-till drilling and gated-pipe drip systems
**Friday, Nov. 14 – Livestock Focus**
🐂 Livestock handling and portable corral systems
🐄 Virtual fence and halter technology
🌿 CSU Research presentations on soil health
🚜 Grazing with purpose – featuring Gallagher & Lifetime Ag
🧂 Redmond salt mineral & ACV
🍄 Fungal composting and SCD extract with Patrick O’Neil & Fungal Link
**Saturday, Nov. 15 – Technology & Tools**
🤖 Robotic weeder demo (ANT)
🔥 Curtain burner & biochar production
👉 Come meet innovators, ranchers, and growers sharing tools and techniques that make operations more efficient, resilient, productive, and profitable.
📍 *Montrose County Event Center*
📆 *November 13–15, 2025*
🎟️ *Free to attend — no registration required!*

Help support the Colorado State University Soil Judging Team! The team will travel to Grand Junction, Colorado this fall to compete in the Regional Collegiate Soil Judging Contest.

Your support helps cover travel, lodging, contest fees, and essential field gear.

Follow the link to donate: https://give.colostate.edu/schools/ColoradoStateUniversit
y/2025-ramfunder-fall-cohort/pages/soil-judgingcontest/?
a=1

If you'd like to learn more about the Soil Judging Team, contact their faculty sponsor, Susan Meltzer ([email protected]), and follow the team on Instagram

Last week the IN-RICHES team met for our annual two-day retreat to reflect on the past year and shape the future of our work advancing across the Rocky Mountain region. We have such a fantastic team and genuinely enjoy working together! 🏔️🌱🍁

(Not pictured: James, Ellie, and Ian- they left before we remembered to take a photo!)