Equipment to help plants

During this harvest season, farmers may receive descriptive messages from their crops via mobile phones indicating whether the plants are thirsty or not.

An automatic infrared induction system will let farmers know when plants find water shortage or are hotter than their ideal growth temperature and need to cool again by irrigation.(Photo: SmartCrop)

Accent Engineering Group of Lubbock, Tex. has invented the SmartCropTM automatic drought control system based on an invention of the US Department of Agriculture. They are making offers at the right time this season.

The battery operated automatic thermoelectric devices located in irrigated fields control the temperature of the leaves and reset them to a computerized base station. A mobile phone modem can be connected to the base station to download data to a personal computer. This set of solutions can also send text messages to mobile phones of farmers.

Plant physiologist James Mahan of the US Department of Agriculture working at the Department's Department of Crop Stress Development and Stress Research Unit in Lubbock is one of the original theorists with the idea of ​​inventing the system. SmartCropTM. Each species has a fairly narrow range of internal temperatures to grow best. When the temperature of the leaves increases to the upper limit or exceeds the allowable range for a long period of time, the plants need to be supplied with enough water to run out of thirst.

In the Texas plains, for example, Mahan found that cotton began to suffer from drought if cotton leaves surpassed 82 degrees F over 6 1/2 hours. Farmers can choose the time temperature threshold they want to receive alerts and fix it at any time.