CONTACT:
Jeanan Yasiri Moe
Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs
[email protected] | (608) 960-9892
MADISON, Wis. – Facing shrinking profits and increasing production costs, farmers are increasingly turning to technology for low-cost, scalable solutions. Emerging tools from the University of Wisconsin-Madison enable precise nutrient management, boosting soil quality and productivity while reducing waste and environmental impact.
With remote sensors, farmers can collect and analyze real-time information about soil conditions. These data inform management practices — like the application of fertilizer or water — to avoid unnecessary resource use while producing optimal crop yields.
“A sensor used in agriculture needs to be cost-effective, since farms run on very lean budgets,” says Victoria Sutton, a senior intellectual property manager at WARF. “All sensors and monitoring technologies also need to be able to operate reliably in all environments. If there’s extreme weather events, they need to be able to withstand that and continue transmitting information.”
One example is a nitrate sensor from Saturn Agrisense, a spinoff company from UW-Madison. The device monitors soil nitrate levels throughout the growing season and can function in different soil types and in wet soil environments. As a nanomaterial-based device, the sensor can be produced at low cost, making it a practical solution for farmers.
Similarly, a system for measuring soil gas-flux developed by UW-Madison researchers offers a low-cost alternative to existing systems, which are often expensive and difficult to deploy.
Another bottleneck facing precision agriculture is maintenance. Replacing sensor batteries can be a frustrating and time-consuming task for farmers. A new soil moisture sensor offers a solution: The self-sufficient device includes a batteryless tag, which harvests energy from radio signals to transmit data.
In addition to minimizing waste, “waste to worth” solutions are needed to create more sustainable and circular systems.
In current wastewater systems, phosphate-containing minerals like struvite and brushite are dissolved in a strong acid solution, which creates contaminants. A new, cost-effective method for wastewater treatment converts those same minerals to non-contaminated, non-radioactive phosphate byproducts which can be reused as fertilizers.
Each of these technologies is designed to be easily integrated into existing agricultural systems to make them more productive, profitable and sustainable.
“These cases are representative of a number in our portfolio, where experts from different fields and departments across UW come together to build an informed, comprehensive solution,” says Emily Bauer, director of licensing at WARF.
Interested in learning more about UW’s startups and technologies in this area? Contact Emily Bauer at [email protected].