Over-irrigation is not just a waste of water   “A little extra” turns into “too much” when the irrigation increases soil moisture in the active root zone above field capacity For most crops, growers want to avoid drought stress throughout the growing season because it can quickly reduce yield and lead to misshapen, undersize and prematurely ripened produce or fruit. Applying “a little extra” is seen as easy insurance against these problems and makes good sense, since it may also provide a time buffer if the next irrigation must be delayed because of a breakdown or a suddenly required chemical application. “A little extra” turns into “too much” when the irrigation increases soil moisture in the active root zone above field capacity. Soil can store water for crop use, and field capacity is the upper limit of this storage. Any additional water applied beyond this limit begins to immediately drain by gravity out of the root zone, lost for crop use and leaching valuable nitrogen. If the soil is well drained, this will happen rapidly, and the main losses are water and nutrients. In slowly draining soils, the excess moisture can cause low-oxygen or even saturated conditions. Depending on how severe the water logging becomes and how long it persists, the uptake of water and nutrients by the roots is slowed down and the productivity of the canopy is reduced. Water logging for more than two days during the growing season will outright kill at least some of the roots. Excess soil moisture also promotes root diseases like armillaria root rot and phytophthora root and crown rot. These diseases are present in almost all orchard soils and can severely shorten the productive life of trees. Losses caused by over-irrigation •      Water lost to leaching •      Nitrogen lost to leaching and/or denitrification •      Increased pumping costs •      Lowered yield •      Reduced tree vigor and lifespan due to diseases •      Increased weed pressure Preventing losses To prevent these losses, you need to know the plant-available water storage in your active root zone, which is approximately the top two feet in established orchards. In annual crops, the depth of the active root zone starts out shallow and generally deepens as the season progresses. Combining root zone available water storage with the water application rate of your irrigation system, you can determine the maximum length of irrigation set possible before leaching starts. In many cases, irrigating more frequently but for less time will be necessary to avoid over-irrigation. FarmX soil moisture probes and its machine learning software can tell you very precisely at which depth your crop in drawing water at what rate. We don’t just give you the raw data output from the probes. FarmX processes this data with proprietary algorithms and shows you volumetric water content at each depth increment. The system is basically learning the unique water holding properties of your soil, providing you field capacity, wilting point, and infiltration rate. This gives you reliable information that is easy to understand and act upon. While the risks of under-irrigation are generally more serious than the risks of over-irrigation for profitable crop production, there are many benefits to avoiding excessively wet conditions in the root zone. This is especially true in tree and vine crops. The convenient and complete control of irrigation that FarmX provides makes it simple to prevent both drought stress and over-watering. •      Real-time ET •      Soil moisture sensing •      Crop stress modeling •      Irrigation scheduling •      Pump control and automated valve operation

Regulated deficit irrigation in wine grapes – balancing canopy, yield, and quality   The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions. Create a Desired Level of StressWine grapes (Vitis ssp.) are incredibly vigorous plants by nature. A cane can grow over 100 feet in length in a single season. Winegrowers are not interested in growing long canes, which is vegetative growth. They want to direct the vines to put most of their vigor into reproductive growth – producing quality fruit for winemaking. Limiting the number of canes and the size of the canopy through pruning and removal of fruit clusters have been the traditional methods to balance vegetative and reproductive growth. In irrigated viticulture, the deliberate creation of water stress in the vines by withholding water has become the method of choice to restrict canopy growth to benefit fruit quality. Called Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI), it was enabled by drip irrigation, which allows for more uniform application of water in small amounts and at more frequent intervals than was possible with flood/furrow irrigation. The vines are given less water than they would be able to use for transpiration, creating a desired level of water stress to achieve defined goals of canopy growth and fruit development. Use Less Water  Water stressed vines early in the season are undesirable, since this would limit initial canopy growth and yield by reducing cluster count, size, and reduced cell count per berry. Once berries enter the cell expansion phase, moderate water stress during pre-veraison can control vegetative growth without reducing photosynthesis of the existing canopy. From about two weeks prior to veraison until harvest, the correct level of water stress can increase sugar accumulation and fruit quality. Severe water deficit however must be avoided during this time, otherwise sugar production and accumulation is decreased, and increased berry sugar content is instead driven by dehydration. This creates poor quality fruit despite high sugar content. After harvest, watering should continue at a level that maintains the existing canopy until senescence, but without triggering new lateral shoot growth. Premature defoliation after harvest due to drought stress deprives the vine of the opportunity to accumulate carbohydrates for fall root growth and reserves for next season’s budbreak.  It is obviously not an easy task to reap the potential benefits of RDI and avoid negative results like excessive yield loss, poor quality, and damage to the vines.  Successful RDI requires accurate monitoring of available soil moisture, plant water status, and atmospheric demand for evapotranspiration throughout the season. With that information, the correct water amount for RDI can be calculated and must then be precisely applied.  FarmX can simplify this process with real-time information and precise control of irrigation. FarmX deploys soil moisture sensing, on-site ET, IR plant stress sensors, and precise control of irrigation. We can control the whole irrigation stream from pump to block and down to small subsections of a vineyard block if desired. The information and irrigation control are available 24 hours a day wirelessly and remotely with FarmX, anywhere internet access is available.  For more in-depth reading:  http://cesanjoaquin.ucanr.edu/files/35706.pdf http://www.vineyardteam.org/files/Regulated_Deficit_Irrigation_Mgmt.pdf

Post-Harvest Irrigation Management Provides Important Benefits and Opportunities for Orchards and Vineyards   In the fall, irrigation management is far from over in orchards and vineyards after nuts, fruit, or grapes have been harvested. Leaves are still green and active for several weeks or even months, continuing to convert the energy from sunlight into carbohydrates. With the fruit gone, these carbohydrates are now directed to three sinks: To buds and recent woody growth that is maturing and hardening off, to restock the energy reserves throughout the tree or vine, and the small fall root flush. The energy gathered postharvest is basically a down payment on next year’s crop.  In the spring, the tree or vine live off these reserves for several weeks after breaking dormancy. The reserves will power budbreak, flowering, and leafout. This means that sufficient irrigation after harvest can set the stage for success the following year. Cutting water off too soon or irrigating too little forces the plants into leaf drop and dormancy prematurely. This can lead to delayed, weak, and prolonged budbreak and flowering in the spring, which reduces yield potential. In areas susceptible to early and/or hard frost, damage to buds and fruitwood can be more severe if these tissues did not get the reserves they needed for fully maturing and hardening. Under the current drought conditions in the West, it is difficult to fully irrigate post-harvest, but any water that can be given will be better than a complete shutoff. Luckily, there are opportunities in some crops to save water. UC Extension found that: In walnuts, controlled and moderate deficit irrigation postharvest can actually help harden off green shoots, reducing the chance of damage from autumn frosts. In pistachios, postharvest irrigation can be run at a deficit of up to 75% of ETc. Almonds have a demand for 12-15” of water postharvest. If that cannot be satisfied, at least 8” of irrigation should be applied postharvest during September and into October to avoid severe damage to next year’s yield potential. In a good water year, additional postharvest irrigation helps manage soil salinity, high boron, high sodium, and high chloride. Unfortunately, this year, few growers have excess water to leach their root zones.  For more detailed and crop specific information, please use these resources: Almond: https://thealmonddoctor.com/the-importance-of-post-harvest-irrigation-in-almond-2/ https://www.almonds.com/almond-industry/industry-news/optimizing-irrigation-and-nutrient-management-postharvest Walnut: https://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop_Irrigation_Strategies/Walnuts/ Pistachio: https://ucmanagedrought.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture/Crop_Irrigation_Strategies/Pistachios/#:~:text=Deficit%20irrigation%20of%20pistachio%20CAN%20be%20practiced%20during,-%20Nov.%2015%20in%20the%20San%20Joaquin%20Valley%29. Grape: https://www.vineyardteam.org/files/resources/Irrigation%20&%20Fertilization.pdf https://www.evineyardapp.com/blog/2018/09/12/post-harvest-vineyard-management-preparing-vines-for-resting/ Prune: http://www.sacvalleyorchards.com/prunes/irrigation-prunes/pre-and-post-harvest/

Breaking Ground in Agriculture: FIRA Continues to Drive a Robotics Revolution!   The future of farming just got a boost at FIRA USA 2023! It was a showcase of cutting-edge technology, where the fields themselves came alive with the hum of machinery and the staged orchards and vineyards were filled with innovation. As the exhibit organizers stated, “We have three and a half acres of veg demo. We have an acre of vineyard demo. And we have a half-acre of tree demo for orchards. You can see demos every day for hours at FIRA USA 2023 in Salinas by design”. The Field, Orchard, and Vineyard Showcase: Nestled inside the Salinas Sports Complex, FIRA launched its second US showcase with 25 robotic demos that had spectators lining the fences. Smart sprayers, weeders, pickers, precision mowers, and a group of collaborative robots appeared in the rodeo grounds, showing an unprecedented level of sophistication and prowess. The show floor was a mix of international robots, with vendors hailing from as far afield as the Netherlands, France, and Italy, flaunting their weeders and sprayers, giving a global flavor to the event. FIRA, a global forum dedicated to showcasing and advancing agricultural robotics, meets the need with three conferences – two in the U.S. and one in Europe, that enable growers and equipment suppliers a direct look at what’s around the corner. But it had a local flavor as well: the CA Strawberry Commission was encouraging robotic development for strawberries with many sessions, attendees, and vendors highlighting how automation can support that industry. FarmX stood out by showcasing our industry-leading, patented Perceptive NavigationTM Autonomy Kits installed on three vehicles – a Kubota tractor, a drone, and a rover built by industry partner, farm-ng. Our display saw heavy traffic, with curious crowds excited to learn more about the uniqueness of our Perceptive NavigationTM solution. With the ability to navigate precisely without relying on GPS, autonomous vehicles equipped with FarmX’s technology are poised to make a significant impact on the agriculture industry. The farming industry has come to expect GPS-based tracking on autonomous vehicles. They also groan at the short-comings of GPS, especially under orchard canopies, on hillsides, and across isolated and remote fields. Because FarmX automation software works on the basis of “what it sees just as a person sees,” it never suffers these shortcomings. FarmX is the only exhibitor who has autonomous software designed to be installed on existing vehicles and requiring no GPS, waypoints, base stations, or pre-mapping. And what’s a robotics fiesta without the usual suspects? Agtonomy, Monarch, PlantTape, Burro, and Gussshowed off their fleet of vehicles, turning the event into a display of autonomous prowess. Our friends at farm-ng, undeniably the show’s rockstar, took things up a notch with a dozen vehicles on display, many loaded with implements. But wait, where were the robotic pickers? It turns out, in the Golden State, apples and pears aren’t the behemoth crops that need the robotic picking revolution quite yet. The Road to Perfection: Let’s not sugarcoat it: not all demos were flawless. Some vehicles needed a gentle nudge to get started or help to gracefully turn into the next row. However, FarmX’s Perceptive NavigationTM offers the polish to make their performance flawless, poised to overcome these minor hiccups and lead the move toward true autonomy in agriculture. Real World Application – the Need for a Holistic Approach: Growers weren’t just interested in single robot management; they had their eyes on fleet management, realizing the real labor savings kick in when a single worker can oversee multiple autonomous vehicles from a single interface. FarmX compliments its Perceptive Navigation software with its Mission Control software. This software serves as a single platform to manage the entire operation – autonomous vehicles, irrigation, and field monitoring and insights. We stand ready to help growers easily run and organize robotic farm operations and achieve the labor savings they need to maintain and improve profitability. In the end, FIRA USA 2023 was nothing short of waystation along a continuum shifting into a world of autonomous agriculture. FarmX plans to join FIRA USA 2024 which is to be held in the Sacramento area. Want to learn more about FarmX’s Perceptive NavigationTM technology or our complete “mission control” software? OR watch our video below! By Brian Mellea The future of farming just got a boost at FIRA USA 2023 ! It was a showcase of cutting-edge

FarmX Presents Autonomous Navigation without GPS and Complete Farm Management System at 2024 World Ag Expo  EVENT PRESS RELEASE Release Date: February 6, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FarmX Presents Autonomous Navigation without GPS and Complete Farm Management System at 2024 World Ag Expo Tulare, CA – FarmX, a pioneer in agricultural technology, is excited to announce its public debut of Perceptive Navigation® vehicle autonomy in live demonstrations at the 2024 World Ag Expo.   FarmX will present autonomous vehicle navigation without GPS or connectivity on vehicles equipped with Perceptive Navigation®. Unlike traditional GPS-dependent systems, FarmX’s robotics platform enables intuitive, real-time, high-precision navigation in complex agricultural environments such as dense foliage, mountainous terrain, adverse weather, and low-visibility scenarios.   The platform can be licensed for tractors, rovers (UTVs, ATVs) and drones. It can be customized for a manufacturers’ new product lines or retrofitted to existing vehicle lines.   Perceptive Navigation® Autonomy Kits consist of a system of sensors feeding an on-board AI compute engine that recognizes and understands features (tree, pole, rock, branch, vine, etc.). It senses its environment and makes real-time decisions – just like a human would. It accurately controls and positions vehicle attachments for crop assessment, mowing, scouting, spraying, and yield estimation. Field mapping and task planning takes minutes, with no pre-mapping or detailed surveys. Vehicles target their work within 2-cm accuracy.   The kits offer multi-platform support, rapid integration, fast deployment, and overall lower cost compared to competitors. Perceptive Navigation® is the next generation of autonomous vehicle navigation.   FarmX will also present live demos of their in-field monitoring, control, and automation; mission control; and mobile mission planning. These autonomous farm solutions empower growers to make data-driven decisions, optimize resource usage, and increase crop yields, making farms more efficient and profitable.   In its live demonstrations, FarmX highlights its strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as NVIDIA, Kubota Corp., farm-ng, and Global Electronics Corporation (GEC). These collaborations demonstrate FarmX’s commitment to an innovative, resilient agricultural industry that meets the pressing challenges of our time.   FarmX’s long term goal is to facilitate a profitable transition into regenerative agriculture. FarmX is dedicated to continuous development of farm management solutions that not only solve immediate challenges but also anticipate and address future problems.   The 2024 World Ag Expo offers a unique opportunity to witness FarmX’s ongoing efforts to revolutionize agriculture in collaboration with industry leaders. FarmX invites all attendees to visit its outdoor demo area (U34, U36, U38), to experience live demonstrations and learn more about FarmX’s exciting vision for the future of farming.   FarmX, Inc. is an agricultural technology company that makes farms more efficient, sustainable, and profitable, providing dynamic technology solutions for farming’s biggest challenges. They deliver comprehensive autonomous farm solutions, including:   In-field sensing and imaging data collection Data analysis and visualization powered by AI and predictive algorithms Actionable recommendations, scheduling, and controls Vehicle autonomy powered by Perceptive Navigation® Mission control and mission planning, fleet and operator management Automation of tasks like irrigation, scouting, spraying, mowing, and more.  

Celebrating World Water Day: The Osmo Revolution in Water Management   Celebrating World Water Day: The Osmo Revolution in Water Management Today, as we observe World Water Day, it’s a time to reflect on the vital resource that sustains life on our planet: water. In the realm of agriculture, where water is both a precious ally and a critical challenge, the quest for sustainable irrigation management practices is more urgent than ever. It’s in this spirit of innovation and sustainability that we reiterate one of our core values of turning measurements into actionable practices for farmers. We’ve been working hard at improving  our irrigation recommendations through our newly redesigned Osmo soil moisture probe. The Osmo – Proprietary Soil Moisture Technology: The Osmo stands apart from traditional capacitance probes in the market through its innovative approach to enhancing the breadth of soil moisture measurements  Unlike capacitance probes, which rely on the soil’s dielectric constant and can be limited by their short sensing distance, the Osmo utilizes an innovative method based on soil’s magnetic permeability. This allows it to “see” and measure moisture content over a significantly larger area. This results in providing a more comprehensive and accurate depiction of the soil’s true moisture state at the point of sample.  This innovative technology ensures that traditional problems with soil moisture measurements like  small gaps or variations in soil composition, which could skew the readings of capacitance probes, have minimal impact on the Osmo’s accuracy. Furthermore, the Osmo is designed for durability and ease of use, requiring no calibration by the user and offering robust connectivity for remote monitoring. Its ability to provide reliable, precise soil moisture data across various depths and soil types without the need for frequent maintenance or manual adjustments sets it apart as a superior solution for modern, sustainable agriculture. A Journey of Innovation, From Japan to Your Farm: We’ve recently enhanced our partnership with a new Japanese CM as a new manufacturer of our Osmo. The collaboration took us to Japan earlier this year. We combined our years of experience of deploying agricultural technologies with the manufacturing experts to redefine our manufacturing strategy for the Osmo probes. This collaborative effort has enabled us to elevate the production process, ensuring each probe meets the highest standards of accuracy and reliability. The outcome of this journey is an Osmo that unlocks the consistency and precision of a recommendation pipeline that growers need to apply the right amount of water at the right times based on their crop’s needs.                 The New Osmo: The new Osmo retains the essence of its original design – accuracy, reliability, and simplicity. However, it now incorporates advanced features inspired by precision and robustness. With its larger sensing radius and improved connectivity, the Osmo offers a more comprehensive and detailed insight into soil moisture patterns, enabling farmers to make more informed decisions about water use. The Significance of World Water Day: World Water Day is not just a day of awareness but a call to action. It reminds us of the critical importance of water conservation and the role technology can play in achieving it. The Osmo, with its innovative design and enhanced features, represents a step forward in our collective journey towards a more sustainable agriculture. By providing precise, real-time data on soil moisture levels, the Osmo helps power FarmX’s irrigation recommendations to reduce water waste, improve crop yield, and support the health of our planet. Join us in this journey of innovation and irrigation sustainability. Whether you’re a farmer, an environmental enthusiast, or someone who cares deeply about the future of our planet, the story of the Osmo is a testament to what we can achieve when we come together for a common cause: to safeguard and cherish every drop of water. Happy World Water Day! By Levon Minassian , Product Manage Today, as we observe World Water Day, it’s a time to reflect on the vital resource that sustains