Soilmoisture Equipmentora

What Soilmoisture Equipmentora does

SoilMoisture Equipment Corp. is a privately held specialty scientific instrument manufacturer founded in 1955 in Goleta, California, by Percy Skaling in collaboration with Dr. L.A. Richards of the United States Salinity Lab. The company develops and manufactures instruments for the environmental quality assessment of soil, water, and plants, with a product portfolio spanning soil moisture sensors, tensiometers, moisture retention curve (pressure plate) laboratory systems, permeameters and infiltrometers, lysimeters and growth chambers, soil water samplers, plant water potential consoles, data acquisition systems, and proprietary porous ceramic components (8 distinct types with controlled porosity and permeability). Its products are ASTM D6836 compliant and are used by USDA National Soil Labs for the US National Soil Survey, as well as by universities, research institutions, and engineering firms globally.

The company operates a hybrid distribution model combining direct sales through its website with quote-based ordering and an authorized global dealer network of more than 50 regional distributors covering North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania. Key channel partners include Stevens Water Monitoring Systems (USA, also its parent company since October 2022), Hoskin Scientific (Canada), LAPACA (Latin America), UGT GmbH (Germany/Austria), and Eijkelkamp (Netherlands/Belgium). Pricing is opaque and quote-driven, with discrete components ranging from approximately $13 (replacement o-rings) to over $7,800 per pressure vessel, and complete laboratory systems priced at roughly $5,000–$15,000+. Revenue derives primarily from hardware sales of instruments and replacement parts, custom-manufactured porous ceramics, and supporting technical consultation.

SoilMoisture's customer base spans five primary vertical segments: universities and research institutions (using MC Lab Systems, TDR sensors, and permeameters for soil physics and hydrology research); engineering firms (using permeameters and infiltrometers for civil infrastructure projects); agriculture (using tensiometers and sensors for irrigation scheduling and turf/golf course management, with the SOI product launched in February 2024 targeting this segment); government and utilities (for water resource policy, landslide monitoring, and flood control); and environmental services (for contaminant and bioremediation work). The firm has accumulated more than 40 patents across its history, including foundational TDR technology co-developed with Dr. G.C. Topp in the early 1980s. In October 2022 the Whitney Skaling family sold the company to Stevens Water Monitoring Systems and Alan Farsad (PhD Soil Physics), who serves as President.

Name

Soilmoisture Equipmentora

Legal name

SoilMoisture Equipment Corp.

Website

https://soilmoisture.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1955

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SoilMoisture Equipment Corp. is a 70-year-old privately held manufacturer based in Goleta, California, that develops scientific instruments — sensors, tensiometers, permeameters, lysimeters, moisture retention curve systems, and proprietary porous ceramics — for measuring soil hydrology, sold to universities, government agencies, engineering firms, and agricultural operations worldwide through a 50-country dealer network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Soil Hydrology and Environmental Measurement Instruments

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

Soil Testing & Nutrient Analysis Services (AFACAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Irrigation Monitoring & Sensors (Flow/Pressure Meters, Soil Moisture, Water Quality Sensors) (AFABAHAJ)

Keywords

• Soil hydrology instruments
• Soil moisture sensors
• Permeameters and infiltrometers
• Porous ceramics manufacturing
• Environmental monitoring equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Goleta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Scientific Instrumentation Sales: Sale of soil hydrology measurement instruments including sensors, permeameters, lysimeters, moisture retention curve systems, and porous ceramics to research institutions, universities, government agencies, and commercial laboratories.
2. Replacement Parts and Components: Ongoing sales of replacement parts, extraction plates, pressure vessels, sensors, and consumables for existing instrumentation systems.
3. Custom Manufacturing Services: Custom-made ceramic items manufactured to customer specifications for researchers and manufacturers worldwide, producing thousands of custom ceramic units annually.
4. Technical Support and Consultation: Product-related technical support and consultation services for instrument selection, installation, and application guidance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Soilmoisture Equipment Corp. designs, manufactures, and distributes scientific instruments for measuring soil moisture, water potential, hydraulic conductivity, and permeability, along with proprietary porous ceramic components. Products include soil sensors, ASTM D6836-compliant moisture retention curve laboratory systems, permeameters and infiltrometers, lysimeters and growth chambers, soil water samplers, plant water potential consoles, data acquisition systems, and custom-manufactured porous ceramics sold to research institutions, universities, government agencies, engineering firms, and agricultural operations worldwide.

Product overview

SoilMoisture Equipment Corp. offers a comprehensive portfolio of soil hydrology and environmental monitoring instruments. The product line includes soil sensors (HandiTrase, HydraGo, HydraProbe, GroPoint, SAGE, Tensiometers), laboratory Moisture Retention Curve Systems (MC Complete Lab Setup Systems with components like pressure vessels, extraction plates, and stabilizers), permeameters and infiltrometers (PR16, PR80, PR40, PR25, PR15, PR30), lysimeters and growth chambers (UGT EcoLab Flex, EcoClim, Easy-To-Go, Ready-To-Go), soil water samplers, plant water potential consoles, data acquisition systems (SkyView360, Steelhead), and porous ceramics. These products serve agriculture, research, engineering, and environmental science applications, functioning as both standalone instruments and integrated systems for measuring soil moisture, water potential, permeability, and related parameters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Soil Sensors Sensors for measuring soil moisture content, temperature, and salinity across field and research deployments.
• MC Complete Lab Setup Systems (Moisture Retention Curve Systems) ASTM D6836-compliant laboratory systems for determining soil moisture retention curves, available in 5 bar, 15 bar, combined, sandbox tension, and ceramic tension configurations.
• Permeameters and Infiltrometers Instruments for measuring soil permeability, hydraulic conductivity, and water infiltration rates in lab and field settings.
• Lysimeters and Growth Chambers Instruments for measuring soil water balance, evapotranspiration, and plant-soil interactions, including lysimeters and climate-controlled growth chambers.
• Soil Water Samplers (Cup Lysimeters) Cup lysimeters in slim, field, and plate configurations for extracting soil water samples for chemical and physical analysis.
• Plant Water Potential Consoles Consoles and accessories for measuring plant water potential to determine plant water stress and guide irrigation scheduling.
• Data Acquisition Systems and Weather Station Sensors Environmental monitoring data acquisition systems and weather station sensors for collecting and logging meteorological and hydrological data.
• Other Lab and Field Equipment Supplementary soil analysis equipment for particle analysis, density measurement, sample preparation, and mechanical soil testing.
• Porous Ceramics Proprietary precision porous ceramic components manufactured in eight grades, used as consumables and integral parts of tensiometers, pressure plates, and tension tables.
• HandiTrase Portable Profiling Probe Portable probe for in-field soil moisture, temperature, and salinity spot-checks linked to mobile applications with GPS coordinates.
• SOI (Spot On Irrigation) Tensiometer Zero-maintenance tensiometer displaying soil moisture status on a 7-coin visual indicator for immediate, calibration-free irrigation decisions.
• UGT EcoLab Flex Modular ecotron system for environmental research, available in single or double station configurations with stackable lysimeters.
• EcoClim Growth Chamber Climate-controlled growth chamber with two zones, CO2 control, and lysimeter accommodation for plant-soil research.
• UGT Easy-To-Go Lysimeter Low-cost 300x600 mm field lysimeter with integrated soil moisture, temperature, and weighing sensors and NB-IoT wireless data uplink.
• Air/Gas Pycnometer Laboratory pycnometer for measuring air-filled pore volume, solid volume, and dry bulk density of soil samples.
• UGT 5-Fold Peristaltic Pump System PPS-5 Five-channel tabletop peristaltic pump system for laboratory liquid dosing and conveyance at low flow rates.

Quantifiable outcome

• ASTM D6836 compliance ensures measurement accuracy and reproducibility for soil moisture retention curves
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Stevens Water Monitoring Systems, Inc.coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 October 2022Stevens Water Monitoring Systems acquired SoilMoisture Equipment Corp. in October 2022. Stevens is the parent company and also serves as the authorized USA dealer. Stevens brings environmental data acquisition, water resource, and soil science monitoring expertise to complement SoilMoisture's soil physics and soil hydrology expertise.
• UGT GmbHmajorTechnology or IntegrationUGT GmbH (Germany) is a partner manufacturer supplying EcoLab Flex, Easy-To-Go Lysimeter, Ready-To-Go Lysimeter, EcoClim Growth Chamber, Sedimat 4-12, Air/Gas Pycnometer, 5-fold Peristaltic Pump System, and Overhead Shaker products distributed through SoilMoisture.
• Dr. G.C. Topp / University of TorontomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHistorical collaboration in early 1980s to develop the first commercially available portable TDR soil moisture sensor (Trase TDR), based on the Topp Equation published in 1980.
• Dr. L.A. Richards / US Salinity LabmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding collaboration with renowned soil physics scientist Dr. L.A. Richards at the United States Salinity Lab (now UC Riverside) for bringing new measurement instruments to the market in soil physics, soil hydrology, and agronomy.
• Global Dealer NetworkmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorExtensive global dealer network including: Stevens Water Monitoring Systems (USA), Hoskin Scientific (Canada), LAPACA (Central/South America), ALEMAR (Brazil), TECNAL (Brazil), ANALAB (Spain), Eijkelkamp (Netherlands/Belgium), UGT GmbH (Germany/Austria), and 50+ other regional distributors.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• METER Group (formerly Decagon Devices): METER Group is a direct competitor in soil moisture, temperature, and electrical conductivity sensors (e.g., TEROS, EC-5, 10HS) for research, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. It competes head-to-head with SoilMoisture's TDR (Trase), HydraProbe, and GroPoint lines and is the de facto modern alternative for many research labs.
• Irrometer Company: Irrometer manufactures tensiometers and soil moisture instruments (e.g., Watermark sensors, R, SR, and LT tensiometers) for irrigation scheduling, directly overlapping SoilMoisture's tensiometer and irrigation-focused product categories. Both companies target agriculture, turf, and landscape buyers with soil water potential measurement.
• Acclima: Acclima designs and sells TDR-based soil moisture, temperature, and salinity sensors (TrueTDR, SDI-12 series) used in irrigation, research, and environmental applications. It competes with SoilMoisture's HandiTrase and HydraGo/HydraProbe sensor lines for similar customers.
• Sentek Sensor Technologies: Sentek produces multi-depth soil moisture and salinity profiling probes (e.g., Drill & Drop, EnviroSCAN) used in agriculture, viticulture, and research. It is a direct competitor to SoilMoisture's HandiTrase portable profiling probe and broader soil sensor portfolio.
• Royal Eijkelkamp: Royal Eijkelkamp is a Dutch manufacturer of soil and water investigation equipment, including soil sampling, permeability testing, and moisture measurement instruments. It directly overlaps with SoilMoisture's permeameter, infiltrometer, and soil sampling products and also serves as a regional distributor for SoilMoisture in Netherlands/Belgium.
• ICT International: ICT International (Australia) supplies soil moisture, sap flow, and environmental sensors (e.g., TDR, ML3, ThetaProbe equivalents) used in research, agriculture, and ecology. It competes with SoilMoisture's tensiometer and TDR-based offerings in similar research and field-monitoring use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Campbell Scientific: Campbell Scientific is a broad incumbent in environmental data acquisition and measurement, offering soil moisture sensors, data loggers (CR series), and complete monitoring systems. It overlaps with SoilMoisture's sensors and data acquisition lines but serves a wider portfolio spanning weather, hydrology, and industrial monitoring.
• Stevens Water Monitoring Systems: Stevens Water Monitoring Systems is SoilMoisture's parent company and authorized USA dealer, offering data loggers, water quality sensors, and monitoring systems (HydraProbe is co-branded). It is a broad incumbent in environmental monitoring with overlapping soil sensing capabilities, particularly for water resource and hydrology applications.
• Hanna Instruments: Hanna Instruments is a broad incumbent in laboratory and field analytical instrumentation (pH, EC, multiparameter) used in agricultural testing, environmental labs, and water quality. It is comparable to SoilMoisture on the laboratory analytical instrument side, though focused on wet chemistry rather than soil hydrology.

Emerging players

• Arable Labs: Arable Labs offers the Arable Mark solar-powered, connected crop and weather sensing device with cloud analytics, targeting precision agriculture and agribusiness. It is an emerging IoT-native alternative to traditional soil moisture sensors, intersecting with SoilMoisture's agricultural irrigation and weather station product lines.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Soilsales
• Facebookfacebook.com/284692035341
• Instagraminstagram.com/soilmoisture
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/soilmoisture-equipment-corp-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Soilmoisture Equipmentora