Source: https://www.waybeyond.io/resources/eliven-tropical-using-farmroad-to-detect-early-stress?hsLang=en
CASE STUDY
Eliven Tropical
Using FarmRoad to Detect Early Stress and Prevent Crop Loss
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- Case study overview
- Managing a large, distributed farm
- Partnering with a digital agronomy leader
- Improving farm operation efficiency
Case study overview
The Customer
Eliven Tropical is an agricultural operation based in southern Spain, founded in 2021 by renowned pharmacologist and biotech entrepreneur Dr. Rudi Pauwels. The company specializes in the cultivation of dragon fruit and tomatoes, both grown in greenhouses. By leveraging advanced automation and data-driven solutions in its farming practices, Eliven Tropical focuses on delivering consistent, high-quality produce to European markets while staying ahead of today’s climate challenges.
Key challenges
- Crop losses due to climate events and system failures.
- Limited visibility into crop health and growing conditions.
- Managing variances in greenhouse climate.
The solution
Eliven Tropical implemented WayBeyond’s FarmRoad platform, including:- The FarmRoad sensor network to capture key climate and crop data.
- A centralized platform for data visualization and analysis.
- Real-time alerts to warn about adverse conditions.
The outcomes
- Avoided crop loss through timely notifications and early intervention.
- Continuous monitoring of climate and plant health.
- Improved response to plant stress based on agronomy insights.
Managing crops with limited visibility
Eliven Tropical aimed to establish a high-performance production farm focused on consistent, quality crop production. Without accurate, real-time digital agronomy data, they lacked insight into the climate variations across different areas of their greenhouse, leaving crops vulnerable to environmental shifts that could lead to stress and damage. In the previous growing season, the grower lost nearly half of their dragon fruit crop due to a sudden malfunction in the greenhouse’s automated ventilation system. To prevent a repeat disaster, Eliven Tropical looked for a solution that could continuously monitor growing conditions, detect stress early, and send timely alerts—giving them the ability to act before problems turned into major losses.
Enhanced crop monitoring with FarmRoad
In late 2024, Eliven Tropical partnered with WayBeyond to implement the FarmRoad platform across its dragon fruit and tomato crops. With FarmRoad, they can monitor plant health and environmental conditions in real time, gaining the insights needed to manage climate variances in the greenhouse and respond quickly to changing conditions. “Our greenhouse is divided into four sectors, each with its own microclimate, but we’re unable to control them independently,” explained María Eugenia Bustamante, Senior Grower at Eliven Tropical. “Access to climate data like temperature and humidity helps me fine-tune the settings on our climate computer to optimize growing conditions.” Timely alerts also keep the team informed about what’s happening in the greenhouse, allowing them to address potential issues early—even when off-site.
The FarmRoad climate monitoring solution in the tomato greenhouse.
Real-time plant health monitoring in FarmRoad using data from plant temperature sensors.
Helping growers act before problems escalate
FarmRoad’s alert feature helped Eliven Tropical identify an issue with their irrigation system that was causing stress to the plants. When an irrigation valve supplying water to 8% of the total tomato crop area was accidentally shut off over the weekend, FarmRoad detected early signs of water stress and alerted the team. This enabled them to investigate and resolve the issue before crop damage occurred.
FarmRoad showing rising plant temperature in the affected sector (Sector 1) compared to an unaffected sector (Sector 4) in the same greenhouse.
“I received FarmRoad’s plant temperature alert while I was at home,” explained María. “Staff in the greenhouse hadn’t seen anything unusual, but on Monday I discovered the closed valve. The tomato plants had gone three days without irrigation, and this was detected earlier thanks to FarmRoad before any visible signs of stress appeared on the plants.”
Had the issue gone unnoticed, the plants could have suffered irreversible damage, resulting in potential losses of up to USD 8,500 per hectare over the remaining crop cycle.
“Without an early warning from FarmRoad, we likely would have only discovered the problem several days later, when the plants were already severely affected—and by then, recovery might not have been possible,” María added.
Early warning helped the grower avoid up to USD 8,500 per hectare in potential crop loss.
From reactive to proactive crop management
Since implementing digital agronomy tools like FarmRoad, Eliven Tropical has gained a more proactive approach to crop management, leveraging reliable data to inform daily decisions and manage crop risks more effectively.Key benefits of adopting FarmRoad:
- Better crop management : Eliven Tropical can now access all crop, environmental, and other agronomy data in one place, making more informed and faster decisions to drive better crop outcomes.
- Proactive risk management: Early stress detection and real-time alerts enable timely intervention, reducing the likelihood of crop damage.
- Operational efficiency: Automated data collection reduces time spent on manual monitoring, streamlining daily operations.
Looking ahead
Ongoing support and training from WayBeyond helps María and the Eliven Tropical team get the most out of FarmRoad. “I’m very happy with FarmRoad. It gives me a lot of valuable insights, and I’ll be using all that information to analyze the crop’s performance at the end of the cycle,” shared María. María is particularly interested in exploring additional features on the platform, such as FarmRoad’s Easy Yield, a yield forecasting tool that helps tomato growers improve harvest planning.
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