101074452 – LIFE21-CCA-ES-HYDROSTICK

Project presentation

101074452 – LIFE21-CCA-ES-HYDROSTICK

The climate change manifests in longer periods of drought on one hand and extreme overflow of watercourses on the other hand. This will significantly disrupt the agriculture sector, which strongly relies on certain temperatures and precipitation levels. The farming choices and the climate will determine the water footprint of agriculture: over-exploitation of water resources is a threat to farming and the environment.

As a solution to this problem comes HYDROSTICK: a modular baton-shaped sensor device of variable length, between 25 and 120 centimeters, depending on the configuration of the probe.

It allows for the configuration of module-sensors of different types at different depths which gives the possibility to measure above and below the root, to minimize wasted resources.

It has 3 different groups of sensors, according to the parameters to be measured:

HumidityNode: Volumetric water content (presence of water and dissolved salts in the soil matrix and humidity), soil water tension, retention curve (soil texture), electrical conductivity of dissolved water and temperature.

ConductivityNode: Four-wire electrical conductivity and temperature.

NPK-pHNode: Acidity / alkalinity (pH), nitrate, potassium and phosphorus index and temperature.

LIFE HYDROSTICK project aims to validate and demonstrate the capabilities of the Hydrostick technology to reduce up to 25% in the consumption of water and nutrients in irrigation and fertilization of crops. Also, it will boost the device into the European market, to make a big impact in the European farming practices.

Research & Innovation

The LIFE HYDROSTICK technology will be demonstrated in real scale, to showcase its performance and its ability to achieve substantial water savings and efficiency in the use of fertilizers and fertigation practices. It will be first validated in greenhouse, followed by a full scale demonstration in 4 pilot crops of 2 Spanish locations (Navarra, Extremadura).

The leading entity is FERNANDO SARRIA AGROTECHNOLOGIES (FSA) inventor and developer of the Hydrostick technology, and in this project it will be accompanied by AN S.Coop. (AN), which will lead the validation process and the Instituto de Agrobiotecnología (IDAB-CSIC) which will be in charge of designing and executing a validation plan for the validation of the HYDROSTICK in different fields.

The methodology consists of 6 WP related not only the real scale testing, but also the technology scaling-up, dissemination and communication of results, design for replication and transferability and exploitation of project results. 5 environmental KPIs have been defined to monitor the impacts that the project aims to achieve.