I posted on another thread -- but basically the innovation in this area was stifled by lack of military applications in the USA and farmers "not being real good at technology" and good ole' fashioned corruption in the academic institutions.
If you'd like this to be full time - I know a guy that manages a tycoon fortune and he might like to help you. hmu - http://elastic.ventures
It's the same story with DFM probes (artificial root that measures water content). I think the (one) reason is that it's quicker to get in your bakkie (pick-up) or quad bike and go to the block yourself than trying to figure out on your computer why the probe says you had applied water throughout the whole night (i.e., 15 times too much). Turns out someone walked passed, opened the valve and just walked away (for shits and giggles?).
By the way, our product uses probes like DFM's. We don't have any users using that brand (from what I can see it doesn't support being connected to 3rd-party data-loggers) but other brands like Aquacheck (also from South Africa), Sentek and EnviroPro (both Australia) can connect to any data logger that supports the SDI-12 protocol. We have several users running EnviroPro and Aquacheck probes.
It's noteworthy that all the leading vendors of these types of probes come from South Africa and Australia, both of which are food-growing countries that have always had to deal with water scarcity. I've long felt it gives us a head start over places that have previously not had major water availability issues, but are starting to experience them now (e.g., California).
It turns out it's better for the plant for thick ice to freeze over it, than for it to just be in cold/frosty air. This is because in the process of the water freezing, it releases its heat into the plant, and this can keep it warm enough to avoid damage (up to a a point).
This article explains it, with cool pics: https://hortau.com/2019/03/why-do-we-irrigate-when-there-is-...
We've been working on the product for about 4-5 years (as a side project while working on other things to pay the bills). Initially it was a smartphone-connected device using Bluetooth and manual data retrieval, but we've just reached production-ready stage of a newer version that uses the new LTE Cat-M1 cellular data protocol (which uses existing 4G cellular infrastructure but is optimised for lower power and longer range).
So we now have a whole lot of these devices sitting in crops (E.g., grapevines, wheat, fruit/vegetables, nuts, sugar cane), some of them over 20km from their nearest cell tower (you can extend the range further with high-gain antennas but we haven't had to do that yet), automatically uploading all this data and generating various data views (time series graphs and dashboards) to help growers make decisions about when/how much to irrigate etc.
It can also do reactive/proactive stuff like detect when temperature close to the surface drops to near 2°C overnight and send out frost warning alerts, and over time we intend to make the data platform powerful enough that it can do things like automate the switching on/off of irrigation pumps in response to soil moisture level trends.
I don't have a website to point to yet. I'm working on a demo site now.
But I'd be interested to hear from anyone who is working on tech like this or is interested to work on it or partner in some way (email address is in my profile).
Despite having worked in the space for nearly 5 years, I'm still not sure why this tech isn't more commonplace – i.e., why every professional grower isn't already using something like this. This kind of tech has been around for a long time, so we're not doing anything completely new, just doing it more affordably and hopefully making better use of modern tech.
From what I've been able to learn about the market, it seems that the big industrial-scale producers use this type of tech, though what they use is costly and sophisticated to install/maintain. But for many smaller growers, it's considered not important enough to make the investment, and they're happy doing things the way they and the previous generations have always done it.
But with water scarcity becoming an issue in many parts of the world it will become increasingly important for growers of all scales to use this kind of tech to avoid water wastage.
We've also had the opportunity to trial the equipment with growers in Far-North Queensland, inland from the Great Barrier Reef. The government and industry bodies in that region are interested to see how this kind of tech could be used to minimise over-watering leading to fertiliser run-off into the sea, which is a contributor to coral bleaching.
So, yeah, that's what I'm doing. Happy to hear from anyone interested to know more or work together.