Semios offers free two-year Precision Farming Soil Moisture Monitoring module

Vancouver’s Semios, a provider of precision agricultural management technology, has announced that it is offering two years of free soil moisture monitoring for existing customers to optimize their irrigation efficiencies and improve their crops’ quality and yield.

The status quo for farmers when it comes to soil moisture monitoring technology involves them going into the field every one or two weeks using data loggers to gather historical data.

The Semios platform allows farmers to monitor irrigation and soil conditions in near real-time to maximize the effectiveness of water usage and reduce the risk of disease.

The Soil Moisture Module conserves water and fertilizer by ensuring irrigation flows do not continue beyond the root zone and that crops do not suffer from a shortage of water.

“Water shortages have been tough for farmers,” said Semios CEO Michael Gilbert. “By fine-tuning irrigation to where and when it is most needed, farmers can protect their crops from drought conditions and time the irrigation sets throughout the season to enhance growing conditions.”

Semios is offering to deliver, install and service their Soil Moisture demo stations to existing customers for two years at no additional charge, essentially giving away over $1 million of analytics software to help farmers combat drought.

Semios modules have video tutorials and customer support is available 24/7.

The patented Semios platform integrates a Soil Moisture module, which includes Time Domain Transmissometry (TDT) sensors, capable of measuring temperature to within plus or minus 0.1 F, electoconducivity (EC), and water content to within plus or minus 1%.

“We know it will improve the farmer’s bottom line and conserve a vital, depleting resource in the process,” concluded Gilbert.

The sensor stations have water probes at depths of one foot and three feet, collecting data which is relayed wirelessly every 10 minutes to the grower’s computer and or mobile device through the Semios platform.

Founded in 2010, Semios claims to have seen over 200% annual growth for its patented platform, and now has over 200 customers and more than 50,000 sensors reporting data every 10 minutes, making it the largest worldwide network of sensors and control devices in specialty crops.

With weather forecasts integrated into the platform, farmers can use that combined data to react to current conditions and forecasts in order to optimize water use in their fields.

The Semios Soil Moisture Module is one of several modules, including Pest Management, Chilling Hours, Frost Management and Disease Control, and is part of the company’s custom designed controller and sensor network that gives fruit and tree nut farmers around-the-clock remote access to conditions in the field.

Semios has so far concentrated on reducing and mitigating risks for growers of tree fruits, nuts and grapes.

In March, Semios was awarded approvals from both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Department of Pest Regulation (DPR) for their aerosol pheromone biopesticide products aimed at disrupting the mating habits of the Navel Orangeworm.

In April, Semios closed an $8 million financing round, led by a group of private investors from the Agtech community, with an assist from Haywood Securities.