Agrotopía, the most important Agro Tech digital newspaper for farmers and related companies, makes a interview with Plantae.
We are very grateful for this and for the recognition of our work by Agrotopía.
Agrotopía's full interview with Plantae
The Datagri Congress, the most important event to promote digital transformation in the agri-food sector, is the perfect showcase for companies, startups, universities and research centers to show the different projects that are being carried out in the sector agro-livestock farmer. As in the last edition held in Córdoba, this scenario took place on the second day of Datagri, known as Farming Day. Here, among other professionals, we met Samuel López, CEO of Plantae, a wireless technology to optimize irrigation, save water and thus make crops more productive .
QUESTION. What is Plantae and how does it work?
ANSWER. Plantae designs wireless sensors to measure soil parameters in irrigated agriculture and precision. We measure humidity, conductivity, ambient and subsoil temperature. And it is done in real time. The frequency of the reading can be modified from two minutes to a day and the data is sent wirelessly to a radio frequency receiver that can be up to 1 kilometer away. Which means that one receiver is enough for 100 hectares of cultivation.
Q.- How does this data arrive and where?
R. The receiver sends the data to the online platform where the farmer or the technician sees that data in real time, which allows him to optimize irrigation. That is, do not irrigate by eye, control the salinity level and then from the temperature have more data on the harvest
P. In what types of crops can Plantae be used?
R. Everything that is irrigated. We also work in some rainfed plantation, but the normal thing is irrigated. We have about 150 clients. The biggest clients are usually super intensive fruit trees, but we also work pistachio, almond, then horticultural, greenhouse, even extensive, corn, alfalfa, etc.
P. What are your main clients?
R. Well, we have farmers from 4 hectares to 1,000 or 15,000, technicians, cooperatives, consulting companies, irrigation fertilizers. We also work with the end customer or through distributors. This is a bit of our way of growing and where we have already stabilized Murcia, Seville, Huelva and Córdoba.
Q. What is Plantae's strong point?
R. In irrigation, what has existed so far in the sector has been complicated technology to install, interpret, understand and also pay. We were talking about complicated technology where a measurement point did not go below 1,000 euros. What we have been looking for for 3 years is to make sensors that are technologically very powerful because they have algorithms according to the soil, but the farmer does not have to know anything, just tell us the soil he has and if he does not say so, we do an analysis, that is to say, the crop, the type of soil and we do it all.
P. How much for the price?
R. The price of our sensor is worth 80 euros, it is wireless, so you do not have a cable. In the end, a one-year installation on a 10-hectare farm can cost you less than 900 euros. We have done something relatively simple, inexpensive and adaptable, always with the support of Plantae, of our technicians in the interpretation and in the help of knowing what to do with the risks. The important thing is to know what is measured and why it measures that.
Interview with Conapa
Also interview with Conapa , a company of experts in agricultural remote sensing.
Plantae and Conapa complement each other to facilitate the farmer's work, improve the quality of their products and the quantity.
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