Peachtree Corners Startup Helping Farmers Save Water, Money

PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA — A Peachtree Corners startup is making news with a water-conservation system that could help out farmers in Georgia and elsewhere.

Trellis, an agriculture-technology company that operates out of the city-backed Prototype Prime incubator, has completed a 2017 water conservation project with cotton growers in 11 counties across south Georgia. Trellis co-founder Liz Buchen and her team worked together with the University of Georgia Extension Office on the project.

The company supplied and installed three wireless soil-moisture stations and a cellular base station on each of the 22 participating farms to help growers make better decisions about irrigation during the growing season.

The project's goal was to help farmers irrigate efficiently while conserving water and saving money. The project was the first time many of the farmers had used soil moisture sensors and at least some of them are saying the experience was a good one.

"I’ve been working with soil moisture probes for 15 years and Trellis’ are the first ones that I trust," said Evan Mobley, a grower from Burke County.

Before the sensors were installed, Trellis helped train county extension agents on the system and how to interpret the soil moisture and temperature data collected by the sensors.

"Since installation, Trellis has configured their dashboard to provide secure access to informative views of the soil moisture data to all the project agents and farmers," said Calvin Perry, superintendent of UGA’s Stripling Irrigation Research Park in Camilla and one of the managers of the project. "Trellis has proven to be a solid, responsive, and reliable vendor for providing soil moisture sensing hardware and data visualization dashboard."

Trellis removed the stations last month in preparation for harvesting time.

"When I’m out of town, I trust what these sensors say," Mobley said. "I love them — they work great. I know exactly what’s going on and am able to understand it."

Trellis was founded in 2015. Prototype Prime, which provides space for emerging companies in technology and other fields, opened in October.

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Photos courtesy Trellis