Senet and Paige Ag Partner to Deliver Smart Irrigation Solutions

Senet, the first and fastest growing North American provider of public, low-power, wide-area networks (LPWANs) for long range-based (LoRa-based) Internet of Things (IoT) applications, has formed a partnership with Paige Ag, a division of Paige Electric Co., LP and a leading manufacturer and supplier of wire, cables, cable assemblies and electrical accessories, to enable "smart" irrigation in agriculture.

Until now, poor wireless coverage in rural areas has impeded adoption. Farm land is often isolated from cellular, Bluetooth and WiFi technologies and where they do exist, cost and complexity of deployment can be prohibitive. With device connectivity over very long ranges (~15 miles), very long battery power life (~10 years) and an extremely low per-device cost, LPWANs and LoRa-compatible products are changing the paradigm of farming efficiency and transforming the way things are monitored and measured. LPWANs are ideal for gathering data about local agricultural conditions including weather, soil moisture, chemical compositions of the soil and other environmental conditions at a much lower total cost of ownership. Furthermore, LPWANs make it possible to expand per-acre coverage and monitor more assets due to the simplicity of deployment and cost of ownership reductions.

"Senet's highly scalable and reliable low-power, wide-area network provides a significant opportunity for our agriculture customers looking to use empirical data to improve operational planning and decision making," said Julie Bushell, Director of Sales and Marketing for Paige's Agwire Division. "Based on market demand and proven use cases, we are initially focusing on delivering LoRa-based irrigation solutions to help our customers capture real economic value from the Internet of Things."

"With the rapid evolution of IoT solutions, its critical to make the right strategic choices, select the right partners and quickly deliver compelling capabilities to market," said Will Yapp, Vice President of Business Development for Senet. "We are extremely pleased that Paige Electric has selected Senet as their IoT network provider to deliver solutions in the agriculture space."

With analysts predicting that installations of IoT devices in the agriculture market will increase from 30 million in 2015 to 75 million in 2020, it is no surprise that agriculture equipment and solution providers are expanding their offerings to deliver additional value to their customers.