Agrilo Links $10 Soil Testing With VR Training
Agrilo, an affordable colourimetric soil-testing system developed through research at MacEwan University, is being paired with a virtual reality training platform designed to support wider adoption and standardised use of the testing procedure.
The soil-testing system uses a smartphone camera to interpret colour changes. It measures soil nutrients and can provide farmers with timely guidance to support fertiliser decisions. The original aim was to make practical soil information more accessible so farmers could use fertiliser more efficiently, improve crop productivity and reduce unnecessary environmental impacts.
The developers say affordability is only one part of successful agricultural innovation. For a technology to create value throughout various regions and farming conditions, users also need to learn its procedures confidently and apply them consistently.
Agrilo VR was developed to support that process. The platform allows farmers, students and field operators to practise the complete soil-testing procedure before carrying out a field test. It reinforces the sequence, timing and decision points involved in the protocol, with repetition intended to build confidence and consistency.
Agrilo uses a structured seven-stage testing protocol covering soil preparation, reagent mixing, timing and colour measurement. Consistent procedures are important when results need to be compared across users and locations. The same principle applies to laboratory and field-based analytical methods, where standardised processes help produce reliable results.
The issue becomes particularly important when testing is decentralised. Commercial laboratories achieve uniformity through standardised procedures, trained personnel and controlled instruments. Agrilo is designed to bring similar principles of guided testing and quality assurance closer to farms, allowing soil information to be generated where and when it is needed.
The Agrilo VR platform is an international collaboration between a team at MacEwan University and the research group led by Dr Abel Méndez Porras at Tecnológico de Costa Rica’s San Carlos campus.
The need for training reflects wider barriers to agricultural technology adoption. A 2025 survey of small farmers in Kentucky found that cost was the most-cited barrier to adopting precision agriculture tools. Complexity, doubts about profitability, privacy concerns, low confidence and time demands were also identified as important barriers and only about one-quarter of respondents had adopted any precision tool.
A meta-analysis published in Precision Agriculture reached a similar conclusion, identifying technical literacy and advisory support among the strongest predictors of adoption.
Reducing the cost of soil testing to approximately $10 can make routine testing considerably more accessible. Combining that affordability with structured training, standardised procedures and ongoing user support can address several barriers to adoption at the same time.
Agrilo VR runs on a Meta Quest headset and guides trainees through the soil-testing protocol in the correct sequence. Each stage must be completed before the trainee advances to the next, strengthening the structured workflow used by the Agrilo system.
The platform also includes a custom liquid simulation showing reagent mixing and colour development as they would appear on a workbench. This feature is notably relevant to colourimetric analysis, where recognising the timing and appearance of a reaction forms part of developing practical proficiency.
With users’ consent, the platform’s cloud-based component can collect aggregated training data showing where users request additional guidance or repeat an activity. These data can help educators identify training needs while allowing the team to continuously improve the learning experience and support protocols.
Virtual training also provides a resource-efficient setting for repeated practice. Trainees can repeat the procedure as often as necessary without consuming physical testing materials.
The platform is being evaluated and demonstrated across locations including KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Medicine Hat in Alberta, Costa Rica’s San Carlos and Nairobi. Demonstrating the system across different sites supports consistent testing practices and more reliable comparison of results between locations.
Simulation has a long record in procedural training, including aviation, health care and technical education. Research in these fields suggests that well-designed simulation can support knowledge development, procedural confidence and repeated practice.
The Agrilo team does not claim that virtual training is universally superior to conventional instruction. Its stated advantage is scalability. The platform can deliver the same structured learning experience across multiple locations while reducing the need to send an experienced trainer to every site.
Further evaluation is needed to determine how effectively the approach supports learning, learner confidence and steady performance when trainees move from the virtual environment to soil testing in the field.
Research on virtual reality in agricultural training is growing, but the evidence base remains less developed than in areas such as aviation and health care. The project therefore provides an opportunity to evaluate how virtual practice contributes to user belief, procedural consistency and performance under field conditions.
Agrilo VR is designed to complement rather than replace practical field experience. Virtual training can introduce the testing sequence, reinforce key decisions and allow users to repeat procedures in a controlled setting. Field experience then adds the realities of local soils, weather, lighting, cropping systems and other environmental conditions.
Combining the two approaches may offer a stronger training model. Users can first develop familiarity and confidence through structured simulation before applying and refining those skills in real farming contexts.
The work also relates to Canada’s wider productivity challenge, which is partly a technology adoption challenge. Developing a useful and affordable tool is essential, but successful adoption also depends on whether people can understand it, trust it and integrate it confidently into their work.
Agrilo was developed to make actionable soil information more accessible. Agrilo VR extends that objective by creating a scalable way to introduce the procedure, reinforce consistent practices and prepare users for field application.
Through the collaboration with Dr Méndez Porras and his research group, the teams are exploring a broader model for agricultural innovation that combines affordable diagnostics with accessible training, field experience and continuous improvement.
The instrument and the user are treated as connected parts of the same process. When affordable technology is supported by well-designed training, farmers and field operators can be better positioned to generate useful information and translate it into informed agricultural decisions.
