Vivo and Esalq-USP partnership kicks off farm 4.0 project

Vivo Empresas – the corporate segment of Telefonica Brasil – and the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (Esalq-USP) present a “Connected Farm” project in the city of Piracicaba, in the interior of the State of São Paulo. In an area of ​​100 thousand m² (10 ha), Vivo enabled, through a 4G network combined with a weather station solution from Ativa Soluções – part of the digital ecosystem portfolio that Vivo has been building in recent years –, the 100% connectivity of the Esalq farm irrigation system.

The area already had an irrigation system, with a central pivot for growing corn, sugar cane and soybeans, and a lysimeter (an instrument used to measure evapotranspiration). The idea of ​​the project was to automate this entire ecosystem with connectivity and a solution based on the Internet of Things: the weather station collects all atmospheric indicators – and in real time – in the region.

This information is complementary, as well as strategic, to the lysimeter data, which determines the amount of water consumed by agricultural crops under those conditions. “In this process, weather station connectivity becomes essential. If the lysimeter indicates that the water easily available in the soil is at its end – associated with a forecast of dry weather –, the central pivot will automatically be activated to release exactly the amount of water needed for that crop” says the Head of Marketing and IoT Products /Vivo B2B Big Data, Diego Aguiar.

“The project is a pioneer in the country because it is a 100% connected irrigation system, with direct benefits in the operation, such as the reduction of failures resulting from human errors, the increase in productivity – since the cultivation is always in ideal conditions of water in the soil –, reducing costs and, by optimizing water and energy consumption, reducing environmental impacts”, adds Aguiar.

The development of the connected weather station, also offered by Vivo, was carried out by Ativa Soluções, one of the six startups chosen at the beginning of the year to make up the Agro IoT Lab – an initiative between Vivo, Raízen, Esalq-USP and Ericsson to encourage the development of applications for the field based on the Internet of Things.

The solution is dedicated to collecting, storing, processing and transmitting data from all sensors connected to the station, being able to measure: rain, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, temperature and relative humidity, soil humidity, and atmospheric pressure . Level and flow of rivers and lakes in addition to air and water quality can also be measured by this type of station. Farmers in the region will have access to all this information in real time and anywhere, enabling quick decision-making, mitigating risks and increasing productivity on the farm throughout the Piracicaba region.