MIRAGE aims to automate and optimize irrigation of industrial crop fields, such as potatoes, carrots or beans. This is a solution for farmers who cannot acquire expensive drip irrigation systems and cannot keep using water-efficiency-unoptimized reel machines.

Robot OSCAR can: a) automate the irrigaton process to free the farmer from this back-breaking manual work b) allow the deployment of sensors, such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for real-time soil moisture determination, to pilot irrigation and make it more sustainable c) offer a solution to irrigate daily on a per-plant basis with excellent efficiency, using water and other recourses with a cost close to the current one with reel machines d) allow deployment of new technologies and methodologies for crop growth (e.g. UV treatment)

The solution will be tested by the consortium of the three complementary companies, directly with farmers in the north of France – an exciting area where two-thirds of the French potatoes are being produced. This innovation will reduce farmers’ use of water and, consequently, the energy used to pump. In addition, it will indirectly reduce the spread of chemicals, given that most of them are washed off with water. It can also expand the use of fertigation, reducing the use of fertilizers. Farmers will be able to grow crops, efficiently and also stabilize and reduce their costs.

Start Date: September 2021
Duration: 17 months
Contact Person: Mr. Henri Desesquelles