Controlled irrigation with agricultural sensors/probes in olive trees in Spain is what most influences the quality and quantity of the olive. The olive tree in Spain is one of the oldest and highly appreciated trees throughout the Mediterranean basin, where 80% of world production is concentrated.
Controlling production and increasing it is one of Plantae's priorities with agricultural sensors/probes.
The olive tree has been known in Spain since the Romans brought it and its production continues to grow, especially in the central and southern areas.
25% of the oil production is of Spanish origin, mainly from Andalusia. Cooperatives and denominations of origin abound in this Community. It is currently the country with the largest olive grove area in the world.
In the rest of the Communities we find olive trees, decreasing as we get closer to the north. In Galicia in the provinces of Pontevedra and Orense, also some olive groves in the region of Quiroga in Lugo. In the Basque country, only Álava has an oil mill. The only ones that do not officially have any olive groves or mills are Cantabria, Asturias and the Canary Islands.
Plantae objectives with agricultural sensors / probes in olive trees
Plantae does not sell olive plants or advise on the variety or type of olive tree to plant in your area or region . We are dedicated to the design, development and commercialization of wireless agricultural sensors / probes technology to save water and improve crop production.
The products we offer are:
- Humidity Sensors of the subsoil with information in real time and wireless.
- Surface temperature and subsoil temperature sensor.
- Sondas de Conductividad controlando la salinidad.
Hub / receiver that collects the data from the sensors without any connection, with a solar panel for its power supply.
Flowmeter
For the control of irrigation water flow and possible fault detection.
Meteo Station
- Rainfall in real time, accumulated liters, reports and reports.
- Relative humidity and relative temperature at a height of more than 1 meter, Thermal Integral, Cold hours.
A team of agricultural technicians and engineers at your disposal to advise on the design of irrigation, on the number of sensors necessary and to be able to make all the decisions to apply precision agriculture in the olive grove.
Irrigation of the olive tree controlled by agricultural sensors / probes in olive trees
The olive tree in Spain has a good part in dry land and another in irrigated land. The areas with the highest production and highest quality are those with the highest rainfall. For meteorological reasons, rainfed areas are increasing, for this reason the irrigation but it must be controlled.
Types of irrigation for olive trees
- One of the most used is furrow irrigation.
- Also very important is buried or superficial dripping.
In either case, we must put sensors at various depths that control the subsoil humidity and salinity. The probes will indicate the depth of the wet bulb and the conductive tendency in its environment, with serious damage to the olive tree.
What most harms the olive tree is having water stress, it can cause stomatal closure and the fruit have deficiencies. We can see in the image the influence of irrigation on the olive.
It is necessary to avoid flooding and in general the excess of humidity that can favor the appearance of diseases such as fungi that affect the olive tree and the fruit.
Irrigation controlled with agricultural sensors / probes in intensive and superintensive olive trees
Currently, the areas of intensive and super-intensive olive tree are increasing. The most common is that they have drip irrigation. Sometimes with surface irrigation and other times with buried drip irrigation. We will dedicate an article to the advantages and differences between the two.
In both cases, evaporation and increased irrigation due to the density of the plantation, the risk of salinity is a fact. Its control in real time with the conductivity probes helps us to control it and to be able to correct the problem before it damages the crop.
Intensive and super-intensive plantations need precision agriculture with the latest technologies that Plantae offers.
Agricultural sensors/probes, which can even be buried for the convenience of farm implements, are essential to control the quality and quantity of olives.
The farmer can have real-time information on the humidity and conductivity of the cultivated area.
Olives and oil
The main productions of the olive grove are table olives and olive oil.
With the technologies of the 20th century they revolutionized the olive grove. The first cooperatives are born, in order to meet the costs of the machines, both harvesters and for the production of oil. The oil is extracted in mills.
Steps for oil production:
- Firstly, the collection of the olives, either by hitting the olive tree with a long stick or currently with vibrators that make the olives fall onto nylon meshes, preventing them from mixing with those that had previously fallen into the field. floor. Then they spread and aerate.
- Second, the milling which consists of crushing the olives.
- Third, pressing, with several phases of centrifugation and filtering.
- Finally decanting the oil , separate all solid waste.
Types of oil
- The highest quality « extra virgin olive oil «.
- With greater acidity than the previous one, the virgin olive.
- Ordinary virgin olive oil.
- Finally Olive-pomace oil .
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