Project start: 01.01.2027
Project end: 31.12.2028
Sponsor: Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg

Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are increasing irrigation demand in fruit production, while water as a resource is becoming increasingly scarce. The project develops an integrated system for precise and resource-efficient irrigation management in fruit orchards in the Argental region. The project is led by Dr. Konni Biegert from the Competence Centre for Fruit Growing – Lake Constance (KOB) in Bavendorf. The approach combines four technology components: A novel multi-wavelength LiDAR system automatically captures canopy leaf area in real time, scalable for deployment on tractors or drones. Complementary AI-based algorithms estimate the current water stress of the trees. This data is integrated together with soil and weather data into the existing ALB irrigation app, which serves growers directly as a decision-support tool. The project is rounded off by large-scale demonstrations on commercial farms and on-site training for fruit growers. The Institute for Fruit Science at Hochschule Geisenheim University provides scientific support to the project and contributes to the validation of methods under real-world growing conditions.