BOLOGNA, Italy — With increased water scarcity and agriculture consuming 70 per cent of global freshwater resources, demand is surging for new agricultural solutions. Yara International ASA (Yara) and Pessl Instruments have devised one — a combination of their technologies which continuously measure changes in turgor pressure in the leaf and irrigate accordingly.

Turgor pressure is the pressure caused by fluid pushing against the cell wall of plant cells. It boosts the plant’s rigidness so that it stands straight and maintains normal cellular functions. It is the driving force for plant growth and fruit production, so proper water management is important. If a plant is not able to access enough water, it cannot maintain turgor pressure, causing it to wilt.

Yara’s water sensor measures the difference between magnetic pressure and turgor. The sensor is integrated into Pessl’s existing hardware platform, with a kit consisting of 10 Yara water sensors to be installed on five different trees (within a range of 500 metres) and is optimal for irrigation plots up to 15 ha.

The aim, the companies say, is to apply water and nutrients on demand to optimise the resources, thereby improving crop quality and quantity.

“Pessl Instruments manufactures, develops and distributes real-time, Internet-linked, solar-powered measurement devices which is connected to the FieldClimate.com platform. The Yara Water-Sensor data together with the weather and soil data are sent wirelessly via Pessl Instruments proprietary radio network and their API to the MyYara platform,” CEO and founder of Pessl Instrument, Gottfried Pessl explained.

MyYara, he said, is the farmer’s engagement portal for crop management which will allow real-time access to recommendations for irrigation and crop nutrition, in addition to historical information of evapotranspiration and weather forecast.

The Pessl-Yara solution is currently available for olives and citrus, but research and trials for additional crops like grapevine, pome and stone fruits, nuts and coffee are ongoing and are expected to be launched “in due course”.

“Collaborating with Pessl Instruments enables us to offer a solution that increases the profitability and productivity of farming through greater nutrient and water use efficiency,” said Pal O Stormorken, Head of Application and Crop Management System at Yara.

The move, he continued, is another step in strengthening Yara’s precision farming offering, adding improved solutions to allow real-time monitoring of crop, soil and weather data to ensure optimal use of scarce resources like water, land and nutrients.

Pessl Instruments, headquartered in Weiz, Austria, was founded in 1984 by current CEO Gottfried Pessl. It develops and distributes climate monitoring, agricultural risk, and irrigation management technology solutions for its farming customer base. PI’s products include weather stations, soil moisture monitoring devices, irrigation automation controllers, electronic insect traps, remote crop monitoring systems, disease and pest warning software and localised weather forecasts.

Yara, meanwhile, was founded in 1905 to solve emerging famine in Europe. It carries a range of products and farming solutions including fertilizers, crop nutrition programmes and technologies to increase yields, improve product quality and reduce the environmental impact of agricultural practices.