Research project of the Piedmontese foundation
(ANSA) – TURIN, MARCH 30 – Thanks to a special algorithm, farmers could reduce water consumption by 30%, regulating it on the basis of the actual needs of the land. Agrion, the Foundation for Research, Innovation and Technological Development of Piedmontese Agriculture, is developing this study to avoid waste and water stress harmful to plants.
The research project focuses on algorithms that detect soil moisture through sensors. And a further step forward is the implementation of a software for an App that allows farmers to consult the information collected by the control unit and control the various irrigation sectors in real time, switching off or activating the irrigation system. “The results are promising – explains Giacomo Ballari, president of Agrion – not to mention that the possibility of managing the irrigation systems remotely is a notable support especially in the case of land splitting, very common in Piedmont”.
Agrion has been dedicated for over 15 years to the development of innovative irrigation strategies, with interventions that particularly concern the fruit sector but which have also extended to the wine sector. The Foundation’s new fruit and vegetable plants are equipped with micro-irrigation systems that allow consumption to be optimized by up to 60%.
Already in 2005 it was equipped with a 5,300 cubic meter micro-reservoir to collect rainwater without affecting the groundwater.
“It is not a solution that can be easily adopted by all agricultural realities – says Ballari – but the accumulation of surface water nonetheless represents a dutiful strategy to respond promptly to periods of drought” – (ANSA).
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