Smart Agriculture: An Example of Practical Implementation

Application of information technologies, together with production experience, to optimize production efficiency, optimize quality, minimize environmental impact and minimize risk – all at the site-specific level.

This is not a particularly new concept in agriculture with essays on this topic dating from the early 18th century. What is new is the scale at which we are able to implement these aims. Prior to the industrial revolution, agriculture was generally conducted on small fields with farmers often having a detailed knowledge of their production system without actually quantifying the variability. The movement towards mechanical agriculture, and the profit margin squeeze, has resulted in the latter half of the 20th century being dominated by large-scale uniform “average” agricultural practices. The advance of technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, has allowed agriculture to move back towards site-specific agriculture whilst retaining the economies of scale associated with ‘large’ operations.

What is?

System consisting of wireless sensors and other components to monitor the micro-climatic and physiopathology conditions of the vineyard in real time and foresee manifestations of fungal diseases such as downy mildew, powdery mildew or botrytis.

  • They allow you to know precisely and in real time which problem arises in the field
  • They allow rapid and effective intervention and therefore a prompt solution to the problem
  • They save your money and resources
  • They protect the environment because, by targeting the real need, they help to reduce use of pesticides and the amount of working hours, resulting in less production of CO2

Goals:

  • fight against pathology
  • healthier production
  • reduction of treatments
  • cost savings
  • more environmental protection

Measurements:

  • Air temperature,
  • Relative humidity of the air,
  • Rainfall,
  • Leaf wetness – both sides,
  • Wind speed and direction,
  • Photosynthetic solar radiation
  • Air pressure,
  • Soil temperature (on 2 levels of depth),
  • Soil moisture (on 2 levels of depth).
Leaf wetness sensor
Leaf Wetness Sensor

Thanks to the data collected it is possible to control a vast variety of diseases that can affect the vineyard.

  • Vine Diseases – impact on growth:

    Variety, substrate, position, microclimatic conditions, ampelotechnical procedures, phenological phase

  • Peronospora of the vine (Plasmopara viticola Berl. & De Toni):

    air temperature, precipitation, leaf wetness: primary infection + relative humidity: Secondary infection

  • Oidium of the vine (Erysiphe necator Schwein):

    temperature, relative air humidity, wind speed, precipitation (primary infection!)

  • Other diseases:

    gray mold (botrytis), grape black rot

Measures, compares and facilitates:

  • Record the microclimatic elements (data),
  • Compare models and parameters of disease development stage,
  • Determine the treatment.

Allows to rise the grapes quality

This happens thanks to the measurement of:

  • Lighting and solar radiation in green parts (parts of the leaf and grape area),
  • Soil temperature and humidity (start of growth, agro-ampelotechnical procedures and irrigation).

Reduces your costs and protects the environment:

  • Facilitate your decision for treatment,
  • It allows you to make more precise distribution of treatments (with notifications!),
  • It permits you to postpone treatment (you will do less treatments),
  • Lower the costs (every treatment is a cost!),
  • It supports you for a better protection of the environment.

Over time the advantages:

  • Records measured data over time (creating the database),
  • Increase its accuracy over time thanks to more data,
  • It will allow greater inclusion of growth phases (phenological),
  • Enables registration of data tracking (also for legal and quality purposes),
  • on 2 levels of depth.
Sensor's node
Sensor’s node in vineyard