French internet of things specialists boost US agriculture

Three French telecommunications companies are helping clam farmers on the Florida Gulf Coast. This involves managing aquaculture, boosting production and practising sustainable agriculture. With support from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), the LoRaWAN station uses Bioceanor‘s autonomous, plug-and-play, cloud-based Aquareal system and sensors from  Aqualabo. The station is located near Cedar Key, Florida. Aqualabo’s sensors continuously monitor data that is instantly transmitted to a publicly accessible dashboard via a Kerlink Wirnet iFemtoCell gateway.

Monitor water quality

The Bioceanor water quality monitoring station reports on water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen for clam growers in Cedar Key. This means they make better decisions and more timely, said Leslie N. Sturmer, of the IFAS Shellfish Agriculture Program. “Clam growers can refine and improve management practices, compare crop losses with water quality events, provide documentation for crop losses, and identify trends in environmental conditions critical for clam health and production.”

Refine clam growth

With this information, clam growers can refine and improve their management practices, compare harvest losses with water quality events. They also can provide documentation of harvest losses, and identify trends in environmental conditions critical to clam health and production. As well as providing growers with constant updates on farm management parameters, the data informs their decisions. For example, it provides guidance on the best rental sites to select based on water salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature. In addition, the data also helps them anticipate extreme events that require clam preservation actions.

Kerlink gateways

“We have used Kerlink gateways in several continents and they have always been a reliable hub to gather data from our IoT water-quality devices,” said Charlotte Dupont, CEO of Valbonne-based Bioceanor. “We can use local sim cards to provide a continuous service to our customers. This deployment in Florida where the data arrives in real-time on their website for public information is highly reliable with Kerlink devices.”