Increase Strawberry Quality

Smart Agriculture

Reduce time from field to market and increase the quality of strawberry crops

In New Zealand, strawberries are widely appreciated for their characteristic aroma, bright red colour, juicy texture, and sweetness. The common goals of growers is to shorten the time between pick and sell and to increase the quality of the berries (especially appearance and flavour). The recent trends see a rising number of farmers sell their produce on their own, creating more interest in using Smart solutions for a continuous control of the berries quality factors.

Strawberries grown in greenhouses are very susceptible to two main factors: air temperature (significant from the coverage of the greenhouse up to harvest) and water irrigation amount (very important both during the first months after planting and before harvest). In this project air temperature and soil water content sensors, placed near the plants, allow a continuous monitoring of the crop. The farmer can instantly check the strawberries status on their mobile phone and receive alerts when sensitive thresholds are reached. The focus is on decreasing product losses and saving water (up to 30% during growing period).