FROM apricots to strawberries, Israeli start-up Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies, continues to use Australia as a base for trialling its groundbreaking irrigation system.
The company drew attention from the Australian agriculture sector at the end of last year when it detailed its crop irrigation method which uses moisture drawn from the atmosphere overnight.
It has patented the method as "Irrigation by Condensation" with plans to commercialise it towards the end of this year.
Roots SAT chief executive officer, Dr Sharon Devir, and co-founder and inventor, Boaz Wachtel, visited Australia again earlier this year for further meetings and technology trials.
Dr Devir said the most recent visit went extremely well as they liaised with Adam Water Solutions in WA.
"We supervised the installation of a pilot for apricot trees in Western Australia and discussed some more possible projects here in Australia," Dr Devir said.
Adam Water Solutions has 35 years’ experience in irrigation and water handling facilities.
This trial, which began this month, is a pilot program consisting of two installations of ground-sourced, heat exchange-based heating and cooling systems to demonstrate its capacity to influence yield, quality and maturity time.
Young tree trial
THE pilot at Carmel, east of Perth, will also provide a world-first proof of concept on young apricot trees for a one-year period.
"We’re excited by the prospects for this as it’s the first time we’re using our patented Root Zone Temperature Optimisation (RZTO) technology on young trees rather than plant crops," Dr Devir said.
"We’re confident of success. RZTO optimises plant physiology for increased growth, productivity and quality by stabilising the plant’s root zone temperature.
"We leverage the principle of Ground Source Heat Exchange (GSHE) and install a closed-loop system of pipes.
"The lower part is installed at a depth where soil temperature is stable and not affected by weather extremes, and the upper part in the target crop’s root zone just below the soil surface.
"Water flowing through the lower pipes is charged by the soil’s stable temperature.
"The water is pumped through the pipes installed in the root zone, where the heat (or cold) is discharged near the roots, depending on the seasons.
"This significantly increases yields and growing cycle planting options, shortens growing cycles, improves quality, mitigates extreme heat and cold stress while significantly reducing energy consumption by stabilising and optimising the roots zone temperature."
The proof of concept trial will take about 14 months.
Strawberry trials underway
THE company also has its sights on making an impact on the local strawberry industry.
"We’ve have been working in the past on strawberry's in Israel with very good results. Due to time constraints we decided to install the trial in Australia next time we’re here," Dr Devir said.
"In Israel we managed to shorten the growing cycle by three weeks, improve quality, eliminate the need for additional air heating and, most importantly, increase the yield by 25 per cent.
"We hope this upcoming pilot will help prove that heating the roots zone on cold nights allows farmers to grow traditional summer crops at cooler times of year and that heating this root zone will improve plant growth rates and increases the crop, therefore increasing profitability for the farmer by allowing them to extend their growth periods with relatively low energy costs and gain premium prices for produce."
Updating Oz
THE trip also allowed the Roots SAT team to update several investors across the country about the progress of pilots and projects underway in China, Israel, Spain and Australia.
"Our products are needed in many countries which are struggling to deal with agricultural sustainability and productivity brought about by climate change, loss of arable land and water scarcity," Dr Devir said.
He said the agriculture industry was becoming more accepting of new technologies which could change traditional practices.
"In an advanced agriculture sector that is used to innovation like we have here in Australia farmers and agronomists immediately see the benefits that are possible through increased yields, more efficient crop rotation and growing period management," he said.
"However, it just takes time to showcase the technologies and the benefits they bring.
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"But as soon as you think about the global environmental challenges that many of the worlds’ farmers face due to ecosystem degradation, water shortages, increasingly severe weather conditions, high energy prices and high usage of chemicals and fertiliser, then our solutions very quickly make a lot of sense."
In their international travels and conversations, both Dr Devir and Mr Wachtel have encountered differing priorities from country to country.
"In China, we found that environmental/social and national goals to reduce pollution during agricultural production cycles and solve agricultural production goals and climate management issues are top of mind," Dr Devir said.
"Whereas in other countries the focus may be more on improving production efficiency and increasing yields to optimise use of scarce arable land or increase prices at out of season markets.
"And others where water shortages are critical are looking at ways to use Roots’ technology to increase self-sufficiency so farmers can be off the water and energy grid with basic crops."