Courtney Tiberio | Apr. 24, 2026
LandPKS Soil ID is a free mobile app designed to help farmers, land managers, and researchers collect, interpret, and share soil data. Built around open science principles, LandPKS provides accessible, science-based tools that connect on-the-ground observations to global soil databases, enabling informed land management decisions wherever agriculture happens. Terraso, the nonprofit tech company supporting LandPKS, is committed to expanding the reach of agricultural data innovation to communities that need it most, including smallholder farmers in the Global South.
Overview
In partnership with Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), LandPKS Soil ID has supported a farmer-led soil literacy initiative in Honduras. SHI works with smallholder producers of vegetables, coffee, and cocoa, crops for which soil health is a defining factor in both productivity and long-term sustainability. Through SHI’s Farmer Field School model, lead farmers serve as community multipliers: they receive training, then return to their communities to share what they’ve learned, extending the understanding of sustainable practices beyond direct program participants.
In early February 2026, SHI trained 25 Community Agroecological Promoters on LandPKS Soil ID for field-based soil characterization. Participants learned to observe and record key soil properties including texture, color, and rock fragment volume which inform land management decisions — all without laboratory equipment or technical infrastructure.
“Soil variability in smallholder vegetable, coffee and cocoa plots has a direct influence on the success of agricultural interventions. By applying LandPKS, Sustainable Harvest International incorporates soil knowledge into technical planning, improving the relevance of recommendations and strengthening the resilience of farming families.” — Joel Castillo, Country Representative, SHI Honduras
Tangible Outcomes and Deliverables
The results of this initiative are concrete and scalable:
- 25 Community Agroecological Promoters trained on LandPKS Soil ID, directly supporting 250+ farming families implementing regenerative agriculture practices
- Each trained promoter serves as a hub for knowledge replication, meaning that soil data literacy is now spreading across Honduran communities
SHI field teams now use LandPKS data to design more precise agricultural interventions, tailoring recommendations to the specific soil constraints and opportunities of each family’s plot. This represents a meaningful shift from generalized extension advice to evidence-based, site-specific guidance.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Deploying a digital tool in low-resource, rural settings presents real constraints that Terraso continues to navigate. Connectivity limitations, language and literacy considerations, and the need for hands-on facilitation all shape how training is delivered and sustained. SHI’s train-the-trainer model has proven to be an effective response to these challenges — embedding soil data skills within trusted community networks rather than relying on repeated external intervention. Continued learning around how to best support promoters as they replicate training in their own communities will inform future program design.
Looking Ahead
We see significant potential to deepen and expand this work. Our key future goals include:
- With the SHI partnership as a model, scaling promoter training to many more agricultural communities
- Partnering with more locally-trusted organizations to contextualize training resources
- Exploring how LandPKS data can inform broader agricultural program design at an organizational level
Our vision is an expanding network of smallholder farming communities which utilize soil science and ground-truthed data for prosperous sustainable and regenerative farming, and become active contributors to a growing body of localized soil knowledge. When farmers can characterize their own land and act on that information, data becomes a driver of both productivity and resilience.
