Soil analysis sensor – Green Brain
The Green Brain system monitors soil moisture at multiple depths to help with on-farm water management.
Benefits
The Green Brain Logger Cellular (GBL-C) is suitable for vines, orchards and field crops.
Irrigation plans provided by the software are adaptive to soil type, weather conditions and the variety-specific needs of your crops. These can inform:
- how much water is needed and where
- the timing of irrigation and herbicide application
- general soil health management.
The technology also provides alerts for frost risk or critically low soil moisture.
How it works
The GBL-C is connected to 3 gypsum blocks buried at 25 cm intervals, which collect soil water tension information. The data can be accessed through the online Green Brain dashboard.
Each GBL-C can integrate with the Green Brain weather station or other technology, such as air temperature sensors and most soil probes. This provides data for Green Brain software to calculate irrigation plans and automatically send SMS alerts when specific conditions are met.
Dashboard of GBL-C soil moisture tension readings at 3 soil depths across 14 days in wine grape vines
Installation and power
Installation can be carried out by a qualified Green Brain technician, or by the customer.
Power is supplied through a solar panel and battery.
Connectivity requirements
Telstra’s CAT M1 network or 3G, 4G, or 5G coverage.
Pricing model
Upfront cost with ongoing fees.
Producer case study
Producer case study
Martin Gallasch is the director and farm manager at family-owned business, Vinhaven, in the Barossa Valley. The property has a medium-sized vineyard, growing 30 hectares of shiraz, grenache, mataro and sémillon wine grapes.
Vinhaven had trialled other soil moisture probes which were functional, but they did not predict or suggest information specific to the varieties on-farm. He also uses technology like infrared to monitor the health and growth of his vines, as well as ground-proofing by sight.
Martin deployed 4 Green Brain soil moisture probes on his shiraz block, along with their weather base stations.
Martin has found the online platform to be detailed and easy to interpret, enabling informed action without the headache. Support from the Green Brain team has also been strong.
Due to unusually wet conditions of the last season, Vinhaven irrigated less than they otherwise would have, even in the absence of Green Brain. Martin says the technology has informed the length of irrigation schedules.
Where in some rows he might have watered across a span of 6 to 12 hours, the soil moisture probes revealed that they need shorter waterings. Green Brain also let him know when irrigated water had penetrated to 60cm and lower. This was often different from what he predicted, with the potential to both save water and improve vine hydration.
The Green Brain weather station is performing reliably. This is an important piece of technology to have on farms prone to microclimates or located some distance from the local Bureau of Meteorology weather station.
Martin expects to continue using all Green Brain probes on the Vinhaven vineyard. He advises other producers to take the time to familiarise themselves with the Green Brain interface, and to ask the support team if they have any questions or advice, as they have provided exceptional customer support.
See it in action
To view the Green Brain package, contact the AgTech Extension Officer at Loxton demonstration farm.
For access to the live data from Loxton demo farm, see the Green Brain dashboard:
Public login: pirsa.agtech@sa.gov.au
Password: pirsa
Contact vendor
Dominic Skinner – General Manager, Green Brain
Email: dominic@greenbrain.ag
Phone: 0438 507 320
