Soil Nutrient Sensing Probe
Problem statement
In the State of Wisconsin, the dairy industry is a large contributor to the economy with $45.6 billion annually. In fact, Wisconsin is home to more farms than any other state with roughly 6000 farms that house more than 1.28 million cows [1]. With this being said, in the dairy industry, the use of manure and synthetic fertilizers, which are essential to plant growth, can lead to nitrate leaching. Excess nitrate from manure or synthetic fertilizers can cause a leach of nitrate into the soil and water which can lead to contaminated drinking water. Contaminated drinking water with too much nitrate present can be harmful to a person’s health [2][3]. However, when fertilizing the soil, farmers tend to not have the tools to make informed decisions on when to fertilize their fields. In many cases, farms and the dairy industry will make decisions based on the previous year’s crops. Our client is working to give farmers the tools they need to track the nitrate, moisture, and temperature levels of the soil at five different depths through the use of sensors. However, the client struggled with the sensors having proper contact with the soil during installation. Therefore, the client needs a device that will allow for easy installation of a 110 centimeter probe with sensors attached at 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 cm depths and have a contact with the soil greater than or equal to 0.1 psig to ensure proper measurement readings. Ultimately, our solution will result in a soil nutrient sensing probe that meets all of our client’s needs and provides tools to help farmers make a more informed decision about fertilizing.
[1] Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. DATCP Home Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics. (n.d.). https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/Publications/WIAgStatistics.aspx#:~:text=The%2
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[2] Groeneveld, R., Bouwman, A. F., Kruitwagen, S., & Van Ierland, E. C. (1998). Nitrate leaching in dairy farming: Economic effects of environmental restrictions. Environmental Pollution, 102(1), 755-761. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0269-7491(98)80109-7
[3] (2021). Reducing the Health Impacts of the Nitrogen Problem. https://doi.org/10.17226/26328
Team members
Lacey LaMere – leader
Tucker Strommen – communicator
Bryce Gilbertson – accountant
Claire Huggett – admin
Client
Joseph Andrews
UW Mechanical Engineering Department