Improved canopy temperature sensing to better understand plant-water relations

Overview

In 2011, the High-Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre (HRPPC), CSIRO-hosted Node of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF)* developed an innovative wireless infrared canopy temperature sensor known as ArduCrop.

Why

Understanding plant water relations is critical to efficient irrigation management and the continued success of Australian agriculture.

Outcomes

Designed as a tool to support phenotyping research, the technology has since contributed to CSIRO’s WaterWise initiative and been commercialised. It is now being used to support scientific advances in crop phenotyping and on-farm benefits through improved irrigation efficiency.

Impact

By improving on-farm irrigation management, the ArduCrop technology is contributing to estimated returns of up to $769 million and significant water savings by 2030^ through the CSIRO WaterWise initiative.

Smarter irrigation and improved crop phenotyping also supports farm resilience, food security and sustainable regional communities. 

Notes:

* APPF has since expanded and is now known as the Australian Plant Phenomics Network (APPN).

^ Prospective Analysis of WaterWise (2020), RTI International. 2020 dollar value.

Understanding plant-water relations, particularly in terms of irrigation management, is critical to the success of Australian agriculture.

In 2011, the High-Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre (HRPPC), a CSIRO hosted node of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF)*, developed a wireless infrared canopy temperature sensor known as ArduCrop. Originally designed as a tool to support phenotyping research, this technology has since contributed to CSIRO’s WaterWise initiative and been developed further as part of Goanna Ag’s GoField - a commercial irrigation scheduling platform used across a range of crops. 

This technology has enabled both scientific advances in crop phenotyping and on-farm benefits through improved irrigation efficiency.

Across much of Australia’s cropping regions, shifting temperature and rainfall patterns have created increasingly challenging conditions for many crops. In particular, a warming climate intensifies water stress in plants and can contribute to a greater prevalence of pest and disease outbreaks, putting both irrigated and rain-fed crop systems at risk. 

 Irrigated agriculture alone was valued at $17.7 billion in 2017-18, highlighting the sector’s significant contributions to the Australian economy. Furthermore, over 74% of Australia’s total water consumption in 2021-22 was due to agricultural water use, most of which was driven by irrigation requirements. At the same time, the vast majority of Australia’s cropping area is dependent on rainfall (95% in 2020-21).

Collectively, these figures underscore the vulnerability of Australia’s cropping regions to climate change. Strategies that enhance water use efficiency in irrigated agriculture and increase the heat and drought tolerance of rainfed crops will be critical to sustaining long-term agricultural productivity and maintaining the sector’s social license to operate.

Canopy temperature is a commonly measured trait in crop research because of its strong relationship with plant transpiration. For this same reason, it can also be a valuable tool to monitor irrigation demand. Plants under water stress close their stomata to conserve water, which increases leaf and canopy temperature. Measuring this response can provide valuable insights into both crop performance (which crops cope better in different conditions) and management (when crops need water).

Our changing climate has challenged and continues to challenge Australian farmers. To grow ‘more with less’ and continue to feed a growing population, Australia’s farming systems must become increasingly adaptable and more efficient. 

Although this is a multifaceted challenge, developing plants with climate-adapted traits or providing farmers with better ways of determining their irrigation requirements can help farming systems do this.  

Finally, for irrigated crops, the management of scarce irrigation water is a highly sensitive issue with agricultural industries required to show the best possible irrigation management approaches to support their continued ‘license to operate’ from the broader community.

Before ArduCrop was developed, it was well known that canopy temperature sensing had important applications in both crop research as well as irrigation management. However remote operating canopy temperature sensors were prohibitively expensive and could be difficult to source, so were not widely used in either phenotyping research or irrigation management. 

Therefore, it was important to improve Australia’s access to field-based canopy temperature sensors by creating an affordable, locally made alternative.

The ArduCrop sensor helped address access challenges by providing a robust, field-ready solution capable of operating continuously and remotely, either singularly or as part of a larger wireless sensor network. As part of this work, HRPPC also developed a purpose-built web platform where users could visualise their ArduCrop crop data in near real-time, improving functionality of data collection for its users. 

This technology has been used not only in classical phenotyping research but also in the development of practical tools for applications such as irrigation management. The work completed as part of ArduCrop played a fundamental role in in the development of CSIRO’s WaterWise initiative, which linked canopy temperature data with weather information to create an algorithm for predicting irrigation requirements. Later successfully commercialised by Goanna Ag, the resulting canopy temperature sensors (part of the GoField platform) are now widely available to farmers.

In summary, the ArduCrop project delivered:

• A robust and reliable tool suitable for long-term, field-based deployment in both research and farming environments.
• Data collection at scale, allowing researchers and growers to monitor crop responses over time and across paddocks.
• A web-based platform that could be used to view ArduCrop data online. 

The development of ArduCrop is connected to both broader research efforts in plant phenomics to improve crops and innovation in irrigation management. This dual pathway — improving both what farmers grow and how they grow it — means the project has delivered impacts at multiple scales: advancing science, creating commercial value, and strengthening the resilience of Australia’s farming systems.

Direct impacts of the project include: 

• Better Irrigation Management: The development of ArduCrop sensors and associated network software provided the foundation for the development (with Goanna Ag) of CSIRO’s WaterWise technology, which led to substantial savings in agricultural water use and delivery of significant economic value (estimated to be up to 2,476 gigalitres and $769 million by 2030, respectively)^ across the agricultural sector. This means improved water use efficiency and reduced input costs across a range of crops. This transformation — from a research-driven prototype to a commercial decision-support tool — highlights the importance of APPN (formerly APPF) infrastructure in enabling and supporting innovation.
• New research tools: HRPPC researchers recognised the need for improved access to affordable canopy temperature sensing for phenotyping. This eventually enabled research that otherwise may not have been possible. The ability to monitor crops and view data remotely also meant greater scales of research could be achieved with a fraction of the manual labour required.
• Improved genetic gain. Increasing the likelihood of selecting better adapted crops can increase genetic gain, leading to crops with improved yields under heat and drought stress. This means more climate resilient crops more suited to ensuring food security. 

For regional communities where irrigated cropping underpins local economies, improving the sustainability of irrigation practices in frequently water-constrained environments is critically important. 

This is because bettering water use efficiency not only strengthens on-farm productivity and resilience but also contributes to the long-term viability of regional communities. 

ArduCrop supports this outcome enabling more efficient and sustainable practices, helping farmers to make better use of water. 

Closely tied to community wellbeing, agricultural industries are increasingly expected to demonstrate responsible irrigation practices, as effective management of scarce water resources remains a highly sensitive issue. Widespread adoption of Goanna Ag’s GoField platform has directly enabled different industries to achieve this across a range of crops, further underscoring the lasting influence of ArduCrop’s development. 

The APPF HRPPC team at CSIRO designed, tested, and validated the ArduCrop sensors and related network software. 

CSIRO’s WaterWise initiative transformed the technology into a practical irrigation management tool, while CSIRO’s partnership with Goanna Ag drove commercialisation and further development.