Crops Signal Farmers: We Need Water, Now!

The University of Colorado at Boulder has optioned an invention to AgriHouse Inc., a Berthoud, Colo., high-tech company, that enables corn and potato crops to tell growers when they need water .

Smart crops that can tell you when to water and how much water to use, not quite but an invention from the university of Colorado at Boulder enables corn and potato plants to inform farmers when they need a drink and how much they need. The University has optioned the invention to AgriHouse Inc., a Berthoud, Colo., high-tech company, in order to bring it into production. AgriHouse has the exclusive right to negotiate a license with CU within 12 months. A tiny sensor is clipped to the plant leaves in order to chart the leaves thickness. Leaf thickness is a key measure of water deficiency as well as monitoring the stress that comes with being thirsty. The leaves transmit the data wirelessly via the Internet to computers which are connected to irrigation equipment. This means that watering will done when it is needed, where it is needed and no more than is needed will be applied.

This system will reduce excessive water and energy use and could realize millions of dollars in savings for farmers in Colorado each year. Research Associate Hans-Dieter Seelig of CU-Boulder’s BioServe Space Technology Center

The technology is based, for the most part on Seelig’s 2005 CU-Boulder doctoral thesis in aerospace engineering sciences. Existing technology such as soil moisture sensors which are used to determine a crop’s water needs are not always able to provide an accurate picture of existing plant and field conditions.

Richard Stoner, AgriHouse founder and president,“What we are developing is a non-intrusive device that gently rests on the plants and lets them interface with the digital world,” he said. “Basically, this is a device that will allow plants to talk to humans and communicate their needs, like when to water and apply fertilizer.”

The sensor is less than one-tenth the size of a postage stamp and consists of an integrated-circuit chip that clips to individual plant leaves and collects and stores information. Agricultural activity uses significant water, as much 40 percent of the freshwater use in the United States is used for agriculture, and approximately 60 percent of all crops in the United States are irrigated using water from lakes, reservoirs, wells and rivers. The researchers believe that the technology is transferable to a variety of crops which include corn, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets and pinto beans. Perhaps one day it can be applied to monitoring large swaths of urban grass like city parks.

“This device is very precise, and will allow a plant to receive just the right amount of water,” said Seelig. “If a plant can tell a water valve when to open and when to close, farmers are going to save a lot of money.

This technology can save millions of dollars and also conserve water; if we are not going to move to localized food production then technology such as this is what we will need.