Agriculture is one of the sectors expected to be most severely affected by climate change. Meeting the growing demand for food while preserving natural resources requires new approaches that enable higher productivity with a lower environmental footprint.

One of the main objectives of Agriculture 4.0 is to improve water efficiency, considering that agriculture currently accounts for around 70% of global freshwater consumption.

PlantBit’s BIORISTOR biosensor is inserted into the plant stem and connected to an IoT device that transmits data to a dedicated application. By detecting the onset of water stress, the system alerts farmers – or automated irrigation systems – when irrigation is required, significantly reducing water waste in agricultural production.

BIORISTOR enables up to a 40% reduction in irrigation water consumption while providing a uniquely responsive monitoring system capable of intervening precisely when and where needed, identifying the factors that lead to significant crop losses.

The BIORISTOR technology is protected by an internationally patented invention, exclusively licensed from the Italian National Research Council (CNR), and is the result of scientific research carried out at the Institute of Materials for Electronics and Magnetism (CNR-IMEM) in Parma.