The passing of the recent bad weather “Medea” during the previous days proved to be disastrous for many areas of Greece, both rural and non-rural. Low temperatures, frosts and heavy snowfall have hit outdoor crops hard, leading to a significant reduction in production.

While most potato producers in Messinia were counting the effects of the bad weather on their production, some of their colleagues had early warning of the bad weather and the time to take the necessary measures to protect their production.

These were members of the Agricultural Cooperative “Union of Messinia”, who, using the services of the gaiasense smart farming system, received early warning to start the anti-freezing process in the cultivation of potatoes, thus managing to protect them.

As George Katsoulis, farmer and member of the Agricultural Cooperative “Union of Messinia”, told the newspaper Ypethros Chora, “We gained a great advantage as we did not lose part of the production, that is, the primary plant was not destroyed. The cultivation of potatoes is inextricably linked to the prefecture of Messinia, it is a demanding, costly crop that needs care and attention. So now, with the ally of the gaiasense and its presence in the field, we were able to move precisely, monitoring the temperature values in the soil, in the foliage and in the atmosphere. We also had the plant’s dehydration index, which plays an important role in this process, and with precision in time we started the anti-freezing process. Otherwise, and as has been the case over the years, we would have had to monitor the weather and when we thought it was necessary, we would have then applied the anti-freeze, with the risk of losing production.”

More information can be found in the full article in Ypethros Chora.