• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
Climate change is causing waves of heat, cold, rain, droughts in months when it did not usually do so, this causes changes in people and plants, so we have to adjust to that reality. In spite of these anomalies, the temperature does not stop rising, and water resources decrease, so taking advantage of every drop of water is fundamental for the future of agriculture in a world where more and more healthy food resources are needed for the population.
80% of farmers irrigate their crops based on what they see, without knowledge of what is happening on the ground, this causes water waste, affects the quality and quantity of the crops, and reduces profitability. They irrigate equally different field plots, having different soil, and therefore different water requirements generating lack of homogeneity in the final harvest.
According to the UN agriculture consumes 70% of water in the world a scarce natural resource whereby irrigation should be done according to proper planning with technical equipment allowing for efficient use of irrigation water, as Global Gap community requires. Due to the lack of monitoring and predicting capacity, the surfeit of fertilizers causes serious environmental damages. Several contaminants from fertilizers end in the land groundwater, and those, are transferred to the crops. This is solved by leaching the plant nutrients/salts with additional water that are spread over the underground aquifers producing more and more contamination. Lastly, this excess of pollution, especially from the nitrates that during the process becomes to carcinogenic nitrites, originates serious health risk over the population.
• Why is it important for society?
Is important for society for several reasons:
- People increasingly need more food, because the population grows, and above all healthy natural foods, which prevent the appearance of diseases and obesity.
- Water is a scarce resource that we must take care of and use in the most effective way, because the waste in agriculture, can provoke in times of drought the restriction of water for humans.
- We have to promote technologies that reduce their CO2 footprint and minimize the use of harmful pesticides for other species.
- Lastly, technologies brought to rural areas bring young people closer to increasingly depopulated areas.
• What are the overall objectives?
BrioAgro is an Intelligent Irrigation platform, which uses low-cost technology based on information obtained by sensors in the field and sensors via satellite. He has developed a soil calibration algorithm to provide water at the time that each crop needs.
We know when to water, and we apply it when the plant demands it.
The overall objectives are to obtain for the irrigating water savings that hover between 30% and 50%, depending on the type of crop and soil. These savings in turn contribute to savings in energy (electricity or gas oil), fertilizers and labour.
