La Marzocco and Accademia del Caffè Espresso, in conjunction with Cisco and Project Nature (PNAT), have launched a new project in Tanzania that will examine how climate change impacts the health of Arabica coffee plants.
The ConSenso initiative will remotely monitor the real-time health of plants in the Utengule Coffee Farm using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Researchers will use data generated by a series of solar-powered sensors to develop actions that can improve the yield of the farm, increase its sustainability, and make the best use of water.
“Thanks to the ConSenso project we were able to create a remote monitoring system that allows us to check on the growth and physiological characteristics of a coffee cultivation,” says PNAT Founder Stefano Mancuso.
“With this technology we’ll be able to follow the growth of different crops in real time, adapting practices and treatments to environmental changes.”
This data will be obtained through IoT sensors placed directly on the plants, while environmental probes will track parameters such as moisture or the presence of pathogens.
“There are so many uses for IoT technology that we have yet to explore. This project is a fantastic example of a use case that allows us to generate data that can help us make better sustainability decisions today, capturing valuable information and supporting even the most innovative experiments,” says Cisco Director of Sustainability Solutions EME Angelo Fienga.
The long-term goals of this project include developing guidelines for the global coffee industry to help tackle the challenges caused by climate change, and increasing coffee-plant resilience.
“This is a unique project that makes us very proud because it allows us to adapt agricultural practices to the new and real needs of plants,” says Accademia del Caffè Espresso Coffee Research Leader Massimo Battaglia. “From now on it will be the plants that will suggest us how to deal with the new climatic and environmental challenges.”
To learn more about the project, click here.
