Stretching every drop on a fourth-generation Sardinian farm
When the local Water Management Authority signalled a major cut in irrigation volume, Agribo — a fourth-generation Sardinian fruit-and-vegetable farm — went looking for a way to make every drop count. SoilSense and an EC sensor became how they decide where each one goes.
Quartu Sant'Elena, Sardinia, Italy
- Generations
- Four, family-run
- Where
- Quartu Sant'Elena, Sardinia
- Setup
- Dataloggers per soil zone + EC sensor
A forced cut on water. A re-think on how to spend what's left.
The local Water Management Authority signalled a significant reduction in the irrigation volumes Agribo could draw. For a fruit-and-vegetable operation where production margins depend on consistent moisture, that wasn't a planning detail — it was an existential question.
Raffaele Bodano, fourth-generation owner, brought in Giacomo Marras, the farm's phytochemistry specialist, to evaluate options. They tested several monitoring systems before choosing SoilSense — for three reasons: it could be applied directly in the field without a specialist on staff, hardware and software shipped as one package, and they could rent it first to verify it fitted their soils before committing.
They installed dataloggers in homogeneous soil zones rather than on a uniform grid — the goal was to surface where soil behaviour differed, not to spread sensors evenly. They also added an electrical-conductivity sensor, so fertilization decisions could rest on the same evidence base as irrigation decisions.
“The goal was to find a monitoring system that would allow us to save water in a controlled way, without causing any loss in production.”
Every zone its own answer. Every drop its own purpose.
The continuous-data view revealed something Agribo suspected but couldn't quantify — soil behaviour varies substantially even between adjacent plots. That insight changed how they irrigate: different intervals and durations per zone, instead of a uniform schedule. Giacomo follows daily activity from the app as a guest user, tightening the back-and-forth between farmer and technical advisor. The EC sensor added a second control loop — fertilizer is now placed to stay in the root zone instead of pooling at the surface or leaching past it.
Facing a water cap on your operation?
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll size the system to your crops, soil variability, and the volume you actually have to work with — and walk through how the dashboard helps you make each irrigation event count.