Thanks to a computerized monitoring system, farmers can rest easier knowing that their irrigated crops will be able to let them know via text message when they’re thirsty.
The system uses battery-operated infrared thermometers placed in irrigated fields. The thermometers monitor leaf temperatures and relay the data to a computerized base station.
The base station is connected to a cell phone modem that downloads data to a personal computer. The system then sends a text message to the farmer’s cellphone. If the plants need water, the farmer gets a text message with specific details.
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Accent Engineering of Lubbock, Texas, developed the Smart Crop automated drought monitoring system, based on a patent held by the United States Department of Agriculture Research Service.
“Every plant species has a fairly narrow range of internal temperatures it prefers for the best growth,” said Accent vice-president Tommy Martin.
“A plant species is just like a mammal species in the sense that it has an optimum temperature. When a mammal gets too hot, it wants to drink water.
“When the leaf temperature of a plant goes above the upper threshold for too long, the plant needs water for cooling, so it draws moisture up from the soil, through the root system.”
In the Texas High Plains area, for example, cotton begins to experience drought stress if plant leaves stay above 28 C longer than 6.5 hours.
Martin said farmers with SmartCrop can choose the time and temperature thresholds at which they would like to receive a text message alert. Also, they can remotely adjust that threshold from their cellphones.
The SmartCrop software has been calibrated for some of the main irrigated crops, and work is underway on thresholds for other crops.
In 2007, Accent Engineering had its SmartCrop systems set up in full-size research fields in Minnesota, Idaho and eastern Washington. He said the calibration data they gained from those potato fields should apply to potato fields in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“We’ve gathered a lot of data on potatoes. That’s one of the main crops to benefit from SmartCrop because they require a lot of irrigation. The problem is that overwatering affects the quality of the spud.
“The SmartCrop allows the crop to tell the grower when the time is right to turn on the pivot.”
Martin said growers can enhance the quality of the spud by applying just the right amount of water at just the right time.
Only the main irrigated crops have been thoroughly tested in the field, but Martin said SmartCrop should work on any irrigated crop grown in North America.
He said the critical time-temperature threshold has been established by previous agronomic research for nearly all crops. He said the data was often developed as part of stress research normally associated with crop development and management.
“For crops we haven’t calibrated yet, a literature search of the existing research can usually find the critical temperatures you’re looking for – the temperature point where the crop is moving into a stress condition.”
Martin said once a grower has the established stress point for a crop, he may want to test it locally to adjust the threshold for specific varieties, soil types and environmental conditions.
“If the research says the stress point is 28 C, try that as a starting set point. Then try 27 C and 29 C. Study the effect of the plants and fine tune the set point until you get the optimum plant performance.”
Martin also pointed to other uses for SmartCrop. Researchers in the U.S. are using the device to help develop native grass species for ethanol production.
“Their goal is to produce as much cellulose material for the least amount of water input. SmartCrop is giving them the information they need.”
Each SmartCrop sensor collects data once every 15 minutes. The information includes plant canopy temperatures, ambient air temperatures and accumulated times for both factors at the sensor site.
The sensor is a long plastic tube containing the infrared thermometer, a microprocessor and a radio transmitter. The sensor is mounted on a pole so it can be adjusted upward as the crop grows.
The sensors transmit to a dedicated base controller. Although two sensors are considered adequate for a quarter section pivot irrigation field, a grower can have as many as 16 sensors feeding data to each base controller.
The base controller sorts data and runs it through the algorithms to determine crop stress. The program was developed and is patented by the USDA. In addition to running the sensor data, each base controller processes humidity, ambient air temperature and rainfall data.
The grower’s connection to the base controller is usually via cellphone or long-range radio. However, the connection can also be to a local network via wi-fi port or ethernet cable.
SmartCrop is compatible with PC and Macintosh systems.
A quarter section pivot potato field can be serviced by the basic SmartCrop unit, which includes two field sensors and a base controller for $1,200 US plus the cellphone modem for $600 US.
Want it?
For more information, contact Tommy Martins at 806-798-9600 or visit
www.smartcrop.net or
