How long to run the pump, block by block.
Every Monday, Arvessa sends citrus farms in Souss-Massa one WhatsApp message with the hours a day for each block. The plan comes from satellite images, your water meter and a model of the soil under your trees.
cette semaine, arrosez :
| Bloc 1 | 2 h 40 / jour |
| Bloc 2 | 2 h 30 / jour |
| Bloc 3 | 2 h 50 / jour |
| Bloc 4 | 3 h 10 / jour |
| Bloc 5 | 1 h 40 / jour |
| Bloc 6 | 2 h 50 / jour |
Example farm and message. Farmers get it in French or Arabic.
From the satellite down to the roots
Each layer tells the plan something the others can't. Most irrigation advice stops at the weather and a table. Arvessa goes below the ground.
- Orbit
Satellite images
PlanetScope images at 3 m, almost every day, show tree size and canopy in each block. We use them to draw your block outlines before we visit, and to warn you when a block suddenly weakens. NASA Landsat thermal images show which blocks run hot.
- Canopy
Trees and weather
Our FAO engine turns the weather forecast and the size of your trees into how much water each block will use this week.
- Pump
Your water meter
A small reader clips onto the meter you already have and counts every litre. It tells the plan how much water each block really got, so there is nothing for you to write down.
- 20 cm
The soil twin
A live model of the water in your soil. It starts from soil maps and a salt test of your well water, then learns from the meter and from probed farms nearby how your soil really holds water.
- 40 cm
Probes on reference farms
On a few reference farms, our probes read soil water at 20, 40 and 60 cm and send it by LoRa radio. They also read salt, which is still being tested. A physics-informed AI model learns from these readings.
- 60 cm
Below the roots
Water that sinks past the roots is water and fertiliser lost. The twin tracks it, so the plan gives the fewest hours that keep the trees out of stress.
The hours on your phone
One message with the hours a day for each block. You stay in charge of the pump. Tap Question and our AI model explains the plan in plain words, but it never changes your hours. See the weekly plan
A hub-and-spoke model: few probes, many farms
Probes show the soil best, but they cost too much to put in every block. So we put them where they teach the model the most.
- Hubs are reference farms with probes. They show the soil twin how each kind of soil in the region holds water and salt.
- Spokes are all the other farms. They get a meter reader and no probes. The twin brings what it learned on the hubs to their soil.
The 2027 pilot tests this. We hide one probed farm from the model and check how well it plans that farm anyway.
Set up in one visit
Outlines drawn first
Before anyone comes to the farm, we draw your blocks from satellite images.
Checked with you
A technician goes over the outlines with you and fixes them. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
Meter reader and water test
We clip the reader onto your water meter and test the salt (EC) of your well water.
First plan on Monday
The twin starts from soil maps of your area, and the first message comes the next Monday.
For packhouse growers, the packhouse's own field technicians can do the setup. We train them.
Built to work through packhouses
Packhouses already have technicians on their growers' farms, and buyers in Europe who ask about water. Arvessa fits into that.
- Audit-ready water records for GLOBALG.A.P. SPRING
- Metered water per block and month, an irrigation log and the plan behind it, for every supplier farm in one place.
- One view of all your growers
- See which farms follow the plan and which blocks need a visit.
- Your technicians do the setup
- About 15 minutes per farm to check the outlines and fit the meter reader.
Edeka has asked all its fruit and vegetable suppliers for SPRING or an equivalent since March 2024 (source). Lidl asks for recognised water certification for produce from Morocco (source). A single farm can also join on its own.
Why Souss-Massa
of irrigated land in Souss-Massa already has drip.
Hespress, ORMVAof citrus in Souss, close to half of Morocco's citrus.
Médias24Morocco's citrus area in 2024. Water and salt are the main reasons.
FreshPlazathe recommended water on a clementine farm near Sebt El Guerdane: about 1,550 mm a year instead of 830. About half drained below the roots.
Abou Ali et al. 2023Where we are
No farm uses Arvessa yet. This is what's done and what comes next.
- 2026Done
FAO engine and soil model built. Soil physics tested on measured data from an orange orchard in Souss. Circuit boards for the v3 probe drawn.
- Winter 2026-27Next
Bench tests of the probe: battery, and water and salt readings in dry, wet and salty soil. LoRa radio range tests under trees.
- 2027 seasonFree pilot
Three drip citrus farms in Souss, four blocks each, set up from February. The twin first only watches and forecasts, then advises once its forecasts hold.
- 2028 seasonPlanned
First paid season, with farms and packhouses.
Join the 2027 pilot
Do you run a drip-irrigated citrus farm or a packhouse in Souss-Massa? We're looking for three farms for a free pilot. Researchers and funders are welcome to write too.
Fill in the application Or write to pilot@arvessa.org