Remote monitoring keeps cherries cool
August 2022
Sensors & Transducers
News
Agricultural businesses consistently require tailormade solutions which are sustainable and cost-effective to ensure that they provide the market with quality products. Euca Technologies, a specialist end-to-end monitoring solutions provider, offers customers products that expand on the integrity of their operations by seamlessly bringing together smart data acquisition and quality assurance, for the end user as well as the environment.
Euca Technologies’ dedicated team of experts, coupled with its dynamic technology, allow it to offer bespoke solutions to its clients. One such solution is an overhead cooling system that was installed in 2021 at Cherries of Eden, a cherry orchard in Lydenburg, Mpumalanga.
“The cherry trees are indigenous to Canada, and so we had to make sure that the environment in which they are growing simulates conditions that are conducive to producing the best yield possible,” explains Peter Van Zyl, Euca Technologies’ sales director. “Cherries of Eden utilises our NviroSense system along with I/O controllers, temperature and humidity data loggers, as well as thermocouples. The thermocouples have been inserted into the cherry blossoms at different heights and areas within the orchard to ensure we obtain accurate data. Through these, we can assist our client to create and maintain the environment favourable for this cherry strain.”
Put simply, the installed system is a ‘detect, monitor and respond’ system, but can be adapted to any applications that may be needed by the client in the future. The innovative and adaptable nature of NviroSense allows for various applications to be added on as per clients’ requirements.
“Our client at Cherries of Eden was very open to the system as they needed a solution that could assist them with monitoring technology over a vast area; a system that allows them to log in remotely, and they needed their various software platforms centralised. We then stepped in to assist them in addressing these needs and they are already seeing the benefits of the system.
“According to the client, the main principle with the overhead cooling system is to keep the trees in dormancy. If they stay cold, they perform and grow better in the summer – that way they’ll be able to obtain healthier and stronger growth and better yield potential,” concludes Van Zyl.
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