Maria Martinez’s grandfather was a farmer. Ever since she was little, she has heard him (‘Close the tap! Close the tap!’) worry about the soil getting the right amount of water for the crops to grow well. Neither too little nor too much. However, in dry Murcia in Spain, where Maria grew up, the risk of the crops getting too little water was far more likely than the opposite. 
–To me, water is extremely precious. You do not want to waste it, Maria says. Instead, you want to know exactly how much water you’ll need.
To figure out how much water to use to irrigate when growing vegetables, Maria’s grandfather used to grab a handful of soil. If it stayed in his hand, he considered it was wet.
–That technique was uncertain, however, as the roots are much further below. It is hard to tell exactly how much water the plants need, Maria says.
Maria wanted to solve that issue and started thinking about how.
Meanwhile, Maria, Finance, and her partner, Fernando Carrasco, Engineer, left Spain to take up positions at the CERN Accelerator.
–In Switzerland, we began having friends with startups and got the chance to talk a lot about our idea. I asked Fernando, “What do you think? We can do this, can’t we?”
In the beginning, they both thought it would be easy to solve the problems of current sensors that existed in the market. Fernando started working hard in his spare time on existing sensor hardware.
–We thought we could use what was out there in the market. Perhaps tweak sensors and give them to farmers for free to see if it worked, says Maria. But it didn’t. By 2021, the farmers had just stopped using them. They complained about the sensors, the cables, and other things.
Fernando and Maria collected and used this feedback as input to further development of their own sensors:
–At this point, we had finished our assignments and moved to Sweden to work at ESS, says Maria. We grew our vegetables at our colony and were keen on finding a solution that would work. We talked to researchers at the SLU about sensors.
Like the farmers, they too complained about the sensors.
–They were concerned about the quality of the data that came out of the sensors, whereas the farmers were mostly annoyed with the cables.
With all this feedback at the back of their heads and with the idea in their heart, Maria and Fernando knew that they had to find a way.
–Farmers in Skåne irrigate more than they need, says Maria. Hence, they waste water. The production of the crops is uncertain. If you overwater, the crops get ill. If you water too little the crops produce less. One must know exactly how much to irrigate for the crops to be maximized.
The idea of using sensors is good, but there were still issues. To address the problems of current solutions, Fernando worked hard on prototypes.
– Fernando is always solving problems and finding solutions, whether it is at work or solving a problem at home.
As Maria and Fernando got new friends in Sweden, learned about the innovation system, and got the advice to get a spot in an incubator.
–We heard from our friends that Ideon’s was the best. A friend of ours had researched the different ones and said that the business coaches at Ideon are much more implicated in what they do than in other incubators. They have passion, engagement, and a lot of knowledge.
To Maria and Fernando, the start-up environment is a new world. But they are learning fast, and the research they did during the pandemic proved useful.
Agrodit went through the pilot and joined the incubator in 2021.
–We were so happy to have joined! It kind of started with the pitch. When we had practiced our pitch at Pitcher’s Corner. We got the feedback ‘I don’t understand a single word that you are saying. Can you tell me what you do?’ We sorted it out and this is how we really got started.
What happens next?
Agrodit is now working with clients going from prototypes to working ones. It is also about finding ways to scalable production.
–We aim to launch our product next year. Skåne is the perfect place to be, to support farmers.
Agrodit will also target golf courses and municipalities.
– We will sell to customers in Spain too! Our product is great for southern Europe.
