Abstract
Irrigation is an essential agronomic practice in intensive apple production. Under the predicted scenario of climate change and increased pressure for sustainability in the future, irrigation is becoming more important. The practical use of soil moisture sensors could support farmers in improving irrigation scheduling. Recent technical advances in wireless communication, such as Long Range Wide Area Networks (LoRaWAN), allow real-time data transfer from field sensors to the user. The management of such sensors is facilitated by their low power requirement and absence of direct on-site data storage via data loggers. The main goal of the pilot study " Smart Land South Tyrol " was to test the implementation of a system of soil moisture sensors, data transfer by LoRaWAN, and data visualization on a Smartphone Application. The project partners, Research Center Laimburg, Advisory Service Beratungsring, and the company Alperia worked since 2019 together to achieve this goal. A sensor network of 120 soil moisture sensors was established within the apple growing area of South Tyrol near Bolzano, Italy. Data were collected during the growing seasons 2019 and 2020. At the same time, the data flow system from the sensors to the database backend was technically improved. Finally, the technical basis for future DLT/blockchain-based data trails validation has been prepared.