Boulder, Colorado
June 14, 2007
Corn and potato crops may soon
provide information to farmers about when they need water and
how much should be delivered, thanks to a
University of Colorado at
Boulder invention optioned to
AgriHouse Inc., a Berthoud, Colorado, high-tech company.
The technology includes a tiny sensor that can be clipped to
plant leaves charting their thickness, a key measure of water
deficiency and accompanying stress, said Research Associate
Hans-Dieter Seelig of CU-Boulder's BioServe Space Technology
Center. Data from the leaves could be sent wirelessly over the
Internet to computers linked to irrigation equipment, ensuring
timely watering, cutting down on excessive water and energy use
and potentially saving farmers in Colorado millions of dollars
per year, he said.
"We think this is an exciting technology, and the implications
for the agriculture industry are enormous," said Seelig. Based
in large part on Seelig's 2005 CU-Boulder doctoral thesis in
aerospace engineering sciences, the technology was optioned to
AgriHouse in March by the University of Colorado Technology
Transfer Office, giving AgriHouse the exclusive right to
negotiate a license with CU within 12 months.
Richard Stoner, AgriHouse founder and president, said existing
technology like soil moisture sensors used to assess a crop's
water needs do not always provide an accurate picture of
existing plant and field conditions. "What we are developing is
a non-intrusive device that gently rests on the plants and lets
them interface with the digital world," he said. "Basically,
this is a device that will allow plants to talk to humans and
communicate their needs, like when to water and apply
fertilizer."
Stoner is the principal investigator on a $150,000 Small
Business Technology Transfer research grant awarded in May by
the National Science Foundation to AgriHouse to develop the new
technology. Seelig is an institutional investigator on the
effort. In 2006, Seelig was awarded a $10,000 proof-of-concept
grant for his research from CU's Technology Transfer Office.
Less than one-tenth the size of a postage stamp, the sensor
consists of an integrated-circuit chip that clips to individual
plant leaves and collects and stores information, said Seelig.
When the leaves lose enough water to contract to a critical
width, the sensor can wirelessly signal computers.
The computers, for example, could instruct individual pivot
irrigation systems used widely on Colorado's eastern plains to
dispense set amounts of water to particular crops, automatically
turning the motors that drive them on-and-off and conserving
water and energy in the process, he said.
"Farmers today rely on standard practices that include a good
eye and a green thumb," said Stoner. "But this new system can
tell a farmer precisely when a plant's water uptake potential is
at its peak, which could conceivably decrease the number of
watering days for certain crops by up to a day or two each
week."
Economists estimate that agricultural activity accounts for
about 40 percent of the total freshwater use in the United
States. About 60 percent of all crops in the United States are
irrigated using water from lakes, reservoirs, wells and rivers.
Stoner likened the plant communication aspect of the invention
to a scene in the 1986 comedy musical film, "Little Shop of
Horrors," when a giant carnivorous plant tells humans to "feed
me." "This technology allows plants to say, 'water me,' " he
said.
High eastern plains water-use has led to lawsuits against
Colorado for violations of interstate water compacts, including
a recent $30 million payment to Kansas for overuse of the
Arkansas River, said Seelig. A recent U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit
against Colorado and Nebraska for overuse of Republican River
water threatened to shut down all Colorado wells impacting the
river if solutions for reducing irrigation water are not found.
Farmers irrigate nearly one-half million acres on the eastern
plains from the Ogallala Aquifer that directly impacts the
Republican River, he said.
The researchers have been experimenting with cowpea, a legume,
but believe the new leaf-sensor technology would be transferable
to a variety of crops, including corn, wheat, potatoes, sugar
beets and pinto beans. In the future, it might also be
applicable to monitoring large swaths of urban grass like city
parks, Stoner said.
"This device is very precise, and will allow a plant to receive
just the right amount of water," said Seelig. "If a plant can
tell a water valve when to open and when to close, farmers are
going to save a lot of money."
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