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In order to grow healthy and effective apple yields, the client was using timer-based farm irrigation systems to water their apple trees. However, the problem with these systems is that users can’t monitor the level of soil moisture or potential failures in the irrigation system. Farming areas usually differ in soil complexity affecting the level of volumetric water content. Too low VWC impacts drying up and reduces yield and too high VWC causes trees to dye off. Furthermore, over or under-irrigating costs money in terms of water, electricity, and produce.
Adam’s apple orchard has its own lake and a water pump used for irrigation and frost management.
Challenges
- High consumption of water
- Time-consuming inspections for failures in the irrigation systems
- High running cost of irrigation systems and their maintenance
Solution
With the implementation of soil sensors in the most critical areas of the apple orchard, we created a monitoring system for soil moisture. The client can now monitor the levels of soil moisture and then react accordingly. The farm irrigation systems do not need to run if there is no need for it, resulting in savings in electricity and fuel. Data is collected on the Senzemo Dashboard, where the user can also have a peek inside the history of soil moisture levels which helps with predictions and localizing the problematic areas.
Benefits
- Lower water consumption
- Savings in fuel and electricity
- Higher apple yield
- 30% increase in the reliability of alerts
- 15% time saved on inspections
- 10% reduction of active frost protection
Easy and safe installation of soil moisture sensors on the supporting pillar. Measuring location-specific temperature and humidity helps to reduce water consumption for active frost protection.
Data is available on the Senzemo dashboard.
