The guys at NASA have done it again. A technology was developed earlier for NASA to find ways for plant growth in outer space. This same technology has been adapted and improved for practical use by scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB). With this new technology, corn and potato crops can send information to farmers that they already need water. Through these sensors, the plants can also tell farmers the exact amount of water they need. All that Colorado farmers would have to do is clip a tiny sensor to their crops’ leaves. These sensors detect the need for moisture in these plants and would wirelessly trigger computers to turn on irrigation equipment and dispense water.
This new technology can save millions of dollars per year in water conserved and energy used and this is considering Colorado only. Providing an exact amount of water that the plant really needs would also be eco-friendly due to the millions of gallons of water that could be saved.
The heart of this new technology is the Sg-1000TM RFID sensor that is attached to the plant leaf. Sg means Seelig which is named after the inventor Hans-Dieter Seelig of the University of Colorado’s BioServe Space Technologies Center. The center is a non-profit research partnership center that is sponsored by NASA. The technology is now transferred to Colorado based AgriHouse which came out with another trademark for the product naming it “I’m ThirstyTM” plant intelligence.
The sensor gently rests on the plants and will not intrude them in any way. The plants can interface digitally with farmers and communicate what they need like water or fertilizer. The tiny sensor charts the moisture contents in the plants which could signal water deficiency or stress in these plants. Less than one-tenth the size of a postage stamp, the integrated circuit in the sensor collects and stores information and sends it out wirelessly to the Colorado farmers’ irrigation computer. In a way, it is like these plants are sending emails to their host farmers telling them that they are thirsty.
The exact amount of water that the irrigation system would dispense can save Colorado farmers millions of dollars in water and energy cost. This would also be good for the environment by reducing water consumption by up to two days per week. 40 percent of the total freshwater in the United States is used for agricultural purposes. Colorado has already been involved in several lawsuits for violation of the interstate water compacts. The state has recently paid Kansas $ 30 million when it extracted too much water from the Arkansas River.
The sensors are still being tested for more variety of crops to check if the technology can be applied. There are still no exact figures as to how much farmers should invest for this new technology or how many units should be used on an acre of field. However, this new technology promises to be beneficial to the farmer economically as well as the benefits it can provide for the environment.
