3/11/2021

Growing vegetables - Az. Agr. Caligari and Babbi

Riccardo De Nadai
Communication Manager

We tell you about the experience of Lorenzo Cecere of Caligari and Babbi Farm, which with xFarm manages the cultivation of vegetables

Caligari and Babbi fruit and vegetables was founded in 2003 in Savignano sul Rubicone, today we market 140 thousand quintals per year of fennel produced in over 500 ha. Due to the need to test new varieties and to experiment with new agronomic techniques aimed at production efficiency in 2015, in addition to the marketing part, we also started the farm for the direct production of this and other vegetables, such as spinach and green beans, which we grow on an area of 25 hectares in Santarcangelo di Romagna.

Growing vegetables without xFarm

Before we tried xFarm we were using another digital platform, but it only allowed us to manage the field notebook. In addition, since we had no sensors, we had no tools to assess weather trends, to understand the extent of frosts and major summer heat. Without this information, it was complex to assess the best time to carry out certain operations, such as transplanting, treatments, and fertilization.

The discovery of xFarm

I had been looking for a weather station for a long time. Talking with a friend recommended xFarm, so after getting in touch with the company we decided to install 4 devices: a professional weather station, two soil moisture sensors and an electrical conductivity sensor. In addition to the sensors, we started to use some functions ofapp a lot : such as activities, sensors and defense.

Transplant management and varietal choice

In addition to the "field" part, we are involved in the marketing of fennel. In order to provide guidelines to farms that cooperate with us, it is important to do varietal research. In this respect, sensors are very useful to us: they allow us to understand the ideal environmental conditions for growing a specific variety, so we can suggest to farmers the cultivar that best suits their specific area.

Irrigation management

Along with transplant planning, we use sensors to manage irrigation interventions. Fromapp we visualize both soil moisture and rainfall, so we understand when crops are about to go into stress and prevent them from having problems. Plus, with the irrigation module, we know when and how much to irrigate, decreasing water waste and maximizing yield and quality.

The advantages

With xFarm we are able to monitor all areas of our farm from a single app, saving time and keeping up to date with what is going on. xFarm is not just a management system for filling out the farm notebook, but more of a smartphone-friendly platform where you can control the financial, agronomic, warehouses, machinery, irrigation, defense and more.

Our plans for the future

In the future we would like to be more and more accurate in data entry. That is why we would like to implement telemetry in our vehicles, so that we can automatically record what is happening in the field, without losing a single moment in compiling activities. In addition, as we collaborate on the marketing side with many other farms, we would like to expand the monitoring network to their plots as well, so that we can have an even more comprehensive control of what is happening in the countryside.

Related articles