Crops

Water

Helping 7 CA farms combat salinization

Learn how Agsight helped 7 California specialty crop farmers overcome saltwater intrusion from the Salton Sea to increase their yield by an average of ~9.5%.

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A hand uses a gold kitchen sprayer to rinse fresh vegetables, including kale, lemons, tomatoes, and a rutabaga, in a marble sink.

MISSION

Helping California farmers fight  saltwater intrusion by providing them simple, clear tools to track soil health and adjust irrigation.

9.5%
improvement in yield
12%
decrease in water use
23%
fewer instances of stress
The problem

For many orchards in southeastern California, irrigation runoff from the Coachella and Imperial Valleys has resulted in salinity that's currently ~50% greater than that of the ocean. This high salt concentration disrupts the soil structure; reduces water infiltration; and leads to waterlogging, root zone toxicity, and interference with nutrient uptake by plants.

The goal

While the current solution (drip irrigation) is effective in conserving water, it inadvertently promotes other salinity issues by causing salts to accumulate in the root zone. Among 7 of these farms, this led to an average 14% decrease in soil fertility, which reduced the nutrient availability for crops and  impacted tomato yields by up to 10%.

For specialty crop farmers, this adversely affects water balance regulation within plants because it causes leaf burn, reduces fruit quality, and produces yield losses of up to 30%. Organic farmers face additional challenges, as the salinity limits the effectiveness of natural soil amendments like compost and green manure, which complicates efforts to maintain soil fertility without synthetic fertilizers.

The primary objective of Agsight was to increase the yield of 7 farms in southeast CA by 10% over the next 2 growing seasons. This would be achieved by monitoring and adjusting irrigation schedules through near real time machine learning algorithms that facilitated optimal water use to reduce soil salinity levels by at least 20% and water waste by 15%.

A man wearing overalls, a green cap, and sunglasses stands in an orchard holding a canvas bag filled with leafy greens.
01
Decomposing the problem.

We worked directly with farmers in the San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial counties to understand their struggles with drip irrigation and salinity. Many shared the same frustrations: confusing moisture readings, unreliable sensors, and the time-consuming process of manually adjusting irrigation schedules — all of which often led to over- or under-irrigation that reduced yields by ~11-18% annually. By interviewing 10 farmers and agronomists from 6 representative farms to understand their pain points related to using irrigation technologies, we mapped where and why their systems were falling short.

How do you currently manage irrigation?
How do you deal with high soil salinity levels?
How do you receive weather forecasts and integrate them into irrigation planning?
What features do you find useful in your current irrigation tools?
How do you interpret data from sensors?
How easy is it for you to understand and act on salinity data?
How do you currently manage irrigation?
How do you deal with high soil salinity levels?
How do you receive weather forecasts and integrate them into irrigation planning?
What features do you find useful in your current irrigation tools?
How do you interpret data from sensors?
How easy is it for you to understand and act on salinity data?
What kind of personalized recommendations would you find most helpful?
How do you currently monitor salinity levels?
What information do you need to better manage soil salinity?
What methods have you tried to mitigate salinity in your soil?
How do you determine when to apply soil amendments to combat salinity?
How do you test your soil?
What kind of personalized recommendations would you find most helpful?
How do you currently monitor salinity levels?
What information do you need to better manage soil salinity?
What methods have you tried to mitigate salinity in your soil?
How do you determine when to apply soil amendments to combat salinity?
How do you test your soil?
03
Where we landed

We created a salinity management system that combines all 3 insights in a way that optimizes irrigation and soil fertility to sustainably increase yield.

A hand holds a phone showing a water assessment for apples, including a disease alert about apple scab and recommending 1.2 inches of water per week.

Treat salinization with intelligence and intention

Salinity

See when, where, and how to irrigate your crops

Irrigation

Get things done based on climate and growing season

Agendas

Water stress
Alerts
Irrigation

Never stress about stress again with personalized irrigation schedules.

Smart, sensor-free irrigation schedules are personalized to each plot and prioritize the zones that need water most by factoring in salinity, climate, and crop conditions.

Sync your sprinklers with our irrrigation schedules

New

A phone screen shows a color-coded map of farmland plots with numbered alerts for daily agenda planning.

Always be in the know on your crops' water needs and threats.

We send you simple, timely alerts — whether it's water stress, irrigation needs, saltwater intrusion, harmful algal blooms, or nitrate contamination — so you can aply soil amendments to high-salinity areas, crop rotation schedules that include salt-tolerant crops to break salinity cycles, and optimal times for leaching.

A phone screen displays water-related agricultural alerts, including apple scab water stress, an irrigation alert, and harmful algal bloom warnings.

Irrigation, made easy.

Our machine learning models tells you precisely when, where, and how to water your crops based on their needs, conditions, and salinity.

A phone screen displays suggested irrigation schedules for apples and pomegranates, including watering depth and duration for each day.
04
Impacting real farmers on real issues.

To validate our solution, we conducted field trials across 7 farms to assess its ability to mitigate salinity stress. Farms were equipped with sensors and traditional irrigation practices (control group) and Agsight (experimental group). Results showed that Agsight significantly optimized irrigation, soil amendments, and planned crop rotations.

Experimental

treated with Agsight

Closer view of grapevines in a vineyard under a bright blue sky, with dry soil but denser vegetation.

“What surprised me most was how different two neighboring blocks could behave once Agsight took over — one bounced back fast, the other needed salinity correction I would've missed by gut instinct or speadsheets. I never thought in my wildest dreams this type of difference could exist in the microclimate of one block with two different approaches.”

Domenick Bianco

Anthony Vineyards

Control

treated with existing agtech solutions

Rows of sparse grapevines growing in a dry, sunlit vineyard with clear blue skies above.

“Before Agsight, I was basically guessing when and where to irrigate during the hotter months. Since using their schedules, I’ve cut my water use by almost 20% and my strawberries are looking healthier than last season. It even caught a salt issue in one of my lower plots before I saw any damage. Honestly, it feels like having a second brain that actually understands my fields.”

Silvia Jackson

Brodasi Organic Farms