Work and activities: Problems and solutions

Everything I do starts with a simple idea: finding ways to make life and field work easier.

In today's context, the work requires the flexibility of working daily across different disciplines to do a good job.

Every tool, project or idea stems from real problems and seeks concrete solutions that can be applied in practice.

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Crop advice and management

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Sustainability must be profitable.

The diversity of production systems, management practices and economics creates a constant challenge, which is adapting decisions to those constraints to achieve the best productivity and profitability.

Agronomic management of melon and watermelon crops for brand growers

**Crop advisory work in mid-tech greenhouses**

**Advisory work on specialty vegetable crops**

**Crop advisory work in high-tech greenhouses**

**Advisory work in low-tech greenhouses**

**Advisory work on every greenhouse fruit type**

**Recovering crops damaged by poor applications**

**Biosolarisation done properly, with measurements**

**Consultancy across different production systems**

**Adapting management to different varieties**

**Management to maximise the yield of different crops**

**Incorporation, composting and viability of recovered residues**

Plant pathology and physiological disorders

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Fast diagnosis is essential.

Diagnosis of pests, diseases and physiological disorders. Treating problems is easy, treating them properly is not. The difficult part is separating the root cause from the symptoms and knowing how to manage them. This confusion is what triggers an endless cycle of losses. Sound preventive management and prompt diagnosis are essential for crop health: use inputs as a purposeful means, not as an end in themselves.

**Recommendations on physiological disorders in trial crops**

**Plant pathology and quality in fruit and vegetable companies**

**Plant pathology, identifying causes at marketing companies**

**Identifying fungi in intensive crops**

**Applied plant pathology and field tests**

**Plant pathology, identifying locally uncommon diseases**

**Detecting fungi and root diseases to apply the right treatments**

**Pest identification and management in greenhouses**

**Visual pest identification for quick correction**

**Sound management to avoid quality problems**

**Effective, environmentally friendly products**

**Use and suitable environmental conditions for entomopathogenic fungi**

**Viruses in vegetable crops, good practice**

Agricultural technology and IoT

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Applied technology should make work easier, not more complicated.

Applying technology so it fulfills its purpose: sensors, weather stations, irrigation and climate control working together, so the incoming data supports decisions instead of just filling a screen.

**Complete phenotyping suite with the latest techniques and genetic API compatibility**

**Developing adapted sensors and measuring devices for better decisions**

**Organic fertilisation calculators for soil and fertigation**

**Automated inverse and classic fertigation calculators**

**Expert examples of agronomic management and how to translate them into sensors**

**Evaluation and diagnosis of traditional and modern irrigation systems**

**Broadacre fertilisation, calculators and calibration of disc, pendulum and pneumatic boom spreaders**

**Amendment calculation tools for sodicity, acidic and alkaline pH**

**Fertigation tools, including fertilisation in traditional irrigation systems**

**Sound prediction of irrigation requirements using in-house models and sensors**

**Solutions to problems in technical field work**

Decision support systems (DSS)

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Informed decisions adapted to the situation.

Climate, water balance and nutrition models that turn farm data into concrete recommendations. This is the basis of the calculation tools published on the site.

**Control and modelling of climate conditions**

**Tools for setting up biodiversity reservoir zones**

**DSS with integrated pest phenology models, and build your own models from field data**

**Measures with an impact on real sustainability**

**Crop nutritional requirements and nutrient solutions**

**General DSS, also adapted to local conditions of intensive greenhouse crops**

Product development and trials

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Product value requires a transferable technical foundation.

Crop and product trials, with experimental design and transferable technical evidence. Without that knowledge transfer, products lose value: advisors and growers alike want to be informed, now more than ever. The objective is to have sound procedures that consistently assess viability, practical utility, and differentiating potential with defensible results. The buyer is the most invested in evaluating what to use and whether the cost pays off.

**Phenotyping of commercially relevant varieties**

**Designing parts to improve biodiversity implementation**

**Treatment effectiveness and resistance**

**Study of disinfection of reclaimed water from treatment plants and resulting problems**

**Training in product use and in showing product value**

**Tests of organic algaecides for use on sensors and in reclaimed water**

**Irrigation tensiometers, material quality and effect**

Nutritional diagnostics

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Proactive management in real time supports profitable production.

Soil, water and plant analyses are data, specialised inputs are means, knowledge is the foundation. There is no DSS capable of properly aligning all three in plant nutrition: the only real one is the advisor who understands what is happening, what occurred and where things are heading. In that orchestration lies the 10 to 20% of potential yield lost in a crop: the difference between driving profitability or merely getting by.

**Custom spectrometry for trials and reclaimed water**

**Nutritional advice and productivity correction**

**Comparison of EC methods in the nutrient solution**

**Detecting and correcting nutritional imbalances that cost yield and profitability**

**Diagnosis of poor nutritional management that affects productivity**

**Crop productivity diagnosis and corrections**

**Managing crops with biotic and abiotic damage**

**Crop regulation through nutritional management**

**Are fertilisers being used correctly?**

Certifications, audits and producer organisations

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Can you communicate what you do to your customers?

Preparation of audits, records and documentation for certifications and producer organisation (PO) workflows. This is a team effort involving at least the client, company, technical advisor and grower, so the work must be tailored to achieve maximum ease and effectiveness.

**Organic farming applied to the company, protocols**

**Certifications, official as well as from bodies and customers**

**One-of-a-kind field logbook designed specifically for advisers**

**Since 2019, building logbooks for company technicians who like the field, not wasting time filling in forms**

Teaching and training

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Advanced perspectives from other fields.

Training for technicians and growers: hands-on sessions, supporting material and an explanation of the calculations behind each recommendation.

**Effects of common practices beyond the immediate**

**Very common, avoidable mistakes with serious consequences**

**Typical mistakes when preparing nutrient solutions**

**Training in technological products to optimise soil water management**

**Training in saline soil management techniques**

**Teaching tools for genetics applied to agriculture**

**Recommendations for agronomic management problems**