Context

According to current climate scenarios, including temperature increases, we can expect more frequent heat waves, which will lead to soil drying. Less moisture in the soil is accompanied by a decrease in agricultural yields. In order to counteract this phenomenon, irrigation and fertilization will become necessary, and production costs will increase. By collecting data on soil moisture, farmers can adapt their production methods. However, in Central Switzerland, there were hardly any soil moisture measuring stations and no central data platform until now.

The initiative

The aim of the project was to create a soil moisture measurement network in Central Switzerland and to make the data collected available to farmers, market-gardeners and fruit-growers. The values of soil moisture and recommendations for appropriate management will be published on an Internet platform.
This information can be used to minimize yield losses and agricultural production costs, particularly during periods of drought. It can also be used to prevent soil erosion.
The project consisted of:
 Evaluating and selecting appropriate sites, sensors and components for the soil moisture measurement network
 Implementing and testing the measurement network and database
 Modeling soil moisture

The final objective was to formulate recommendations and measures for a resource-efficient agriculture and appropriate soil management.

Results, limits and enable factors

After installing soil moisture measuring stations in different crops, the readings revealed that the need to measure soil moisture on a plot-by-plot basis in order to manage and optimize irrigation, as the factors influencing soil moisture, are geographically very heterogeneous. Instead of a complete website, a soil moisture model was evaluated in collaboration with Agroscope on the basis of measured data for one site.
In addition, a catalog of measures was developed based on literature searches and interviews with farmers and agricultural advisors. This document provides an overview of ways to improve irrigation efficiency and drought resistance.
However, this project revealed that a number of producers do not yet have the experience to use the measured values in a targeted way.