BlogNews
SoilPulse AI and DeepLeaf join forces for Ghanaian cocoa
Through Wageningen University & Research's Food Systems Innovation Challenge, we are teaming up with DeepLeaf to give cocoa farmers one record of their soil, their crop and their plot.
We are partnering with DeepLeaf, the crop-diagnosis company founded in Morocco in 2023, to support cocoa farmers in Ghana. The two teams met through the Food Systems Innovation Challenge run by Wageningen University & Research, which has published the story of the partnership: A Synergy for Ghanaian Cocoa: SoilPulse AI and DeepLeaf Join Forces.
Why cocoa, and why now
Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire grow roughly 60% of the world's cocoa, most of it on small farms that have never been formally registered. From the end of 2026, new European rules require cocoa sold into the EU to be proven deforestation-free and legally produced, and traceable to the exact plot it came from.
For a smallholder, that is a new burden on top of the work of farming. If the evidence cannot be produced, the farmer risks losing access to one of the most important markets for their crop.
What each of us brings
SoilPulse AI measures what is happening in the soil. Our SoilPulse Probe sensors read moisture, nutrients, pH, electrical conductivity and temperature in real time, and farmers receive recommendations in their own language by phone and SMS. We are also adding a 360-degree camera to our field kit.
DeepLeaf reads the crop. Its AI diagnoses disease, pests and nutrient deficiencies from a single photograph, across 83 crops and more than 1,500 conditions, and it already works on four continents through banks, cooperatives and agribusinesses.
One record from one farm visit
Each technology works on its own. Together, a single visit to a farm produces one record: the soil readings, a diagnosis of the crop, and dated, geolocated images of the plot, all captured on the same farm at the same time.
That record does two jobs at once:
- It is advice. The farmer learns what the soil needs and what is affecting the trees, so spraying can be targeted rather than routine.
- It is evidence. The same record can show where the cocoa was grown and when, as a by-product of the visit rather than as extra paperwork.
The partnership aims to keep smallholders in the export market, help protect forests, and make farm-level conditions, including child labour, verifiable.
What happens next
We are setting up a joint pilot with cocoa producers in Ghana. SoilPulse AI will lead on the ground, working with farmers and field teams, and DeepLeaf will provide the crop-imaging technology. If it works, the same approach can extend to coffee, rubber and palm oil, and to other markets where a local partner works directly with farmers.
We will share what we learn from the pilot here. If you grow cocoa in Ghana and would like to take part, or you work with cocoa farmers, write to us at hello@soilpulseai.com.
Read the full story on the Wageningen University & Research website: A Synergy for Ghanaian Cocoa.
