Proposal of a system for measuring apparent electrical conductivity and moisture of soil for small farmers

Abstract

In the last 30 years soils decreased 73 % of their productive capacity in the world. One of the main reasons for this decrease has been the politics implemented, as well as the absence of opportunity for the small producer to implement improvement strategies that can increase their productivity in the field. Therefore, in this research a soil measurement system is proposed for small farmers, based on the design of two sensors of low cost: (i) Apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) sensor and (ii) moisture sensor. These measurement variables have the particularity that their characteristics can be associated with the physical properties of the soil for decision-making. The sensors developed in this work employ two techniques: Wenner's method for ECa and electrical impedance measurement to identify the dielectric permittivity associated with the water content of the soil. The system is controlled by the Raspberry Pi 3 board through developed software that allows correlating data with its geolocation. The device was tested in controlled laboratory measurements with calibrated instruments, obtaining a coefficient of . Finally, on-site tests were made to validate their use for small farmers.

Keywords

• Agricultural soils
• Low-cost technology
• Physical characteristics
• Sensors
• Small farmers