LIFE21-CCA-ES-HYDROSTICK

Modular wireless sentinel of water percolation, water potential, soil texture, salts, pH, and nutrients in depth, to reduce water use and energy and optimise fertilization in crops

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. 

This is the origin of the LIFE HYDROSTICK project, which aims at making precision farming easy and accessible by means of demonstrating in real scale a new modular, flexible, autonomous, user-friendly (plug&connect) and customisable IoT solution allowing real-time monitoring of soil data (i.e. water content, water potential, temperature, conductivity (quality and type of mineral salts), nutrients (N,P,K), pH), to increase sustainability and productivity in the agro-industry sector.

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. 
 

Project ID

101074452

Funding period

1 August 2022 - 31 July 2025

Total budget

€1,592,248.81

EU contribution

€955,349.27

Funding programme

LIFE2027

Call for proposals

LIFE-2021-SAP-CLIMA

Type of action

LIFE-PJG

Project contribution to Mission Soil’s:

Specific objectives

  • 1. Reduce land degradation relating to desertification
    Not targeted
  • 2. Conserve and increase soil organic carbon stocks
    Not targeted
  • 3. No net soil sealing and increase the reuse of urban soils
    Not targeted
  • 4. Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration
    Targeted
  • 5. Prevent erosion
    Not targeted
  • 6. Improve soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops
    Partially targeted
  • 7. Reduce the EU global footprint on soils
    Not targeted
  • 8. Increase soil literacy in society across Member States
    Not targeted

Operational objectives

  • 1. Build capacities and the knowledge base for soil stewardship
    Not targeted
  • 2. Co-create and upscale place-based innovations to improve soil health in all places
    Partially targeted
  • 3. Develop an integrated EU soil monitoring system and track progress towards soil health
    Partially targeted
  • 4. Engage with the soil user community and society at large
    Partially targeted

Innovation hotspots

  • 1. Carbon farming
    Not targeted
  • 2. Soil pollution and restoration
    Targeted
  • 3. Soil biodiversity including the microbiome
    Targeted
  • 4. Circular economy solutions
    Not targeted

Cross-cutting dimensions

  • 1. Business
    Targeted
  • 2. Digital
    Targeted
  • 3. Territorial
    Not targeted
  • 4. International
    Not targeted

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