Crop X an Energy Start up that saves Water.

Hawaii Farm land on Hawaii’s North Shore - Photo Jocelyn Stara

By Jocelyn Stara RENEW REBUILD HAWAII writer and HPU student.

Hawaii's belief in sustainability and eco-friendly practices is shown daily in Hawaiian

culture and almost all aspects of life on the islands. However, Hawaii is currently plagued by

a water shortage crisis. that is affecting the success and productivity of all farmers on the

islands. This due to the high supply of water needed to cultivate the crops.

Hawaii is home to 1.5 million people and 1 million acres of farmland but is only 6,400 square acres in total. This

imbalance of people to space has created this massive water shortage issue. When looking into

ways to alleviate the water shortage problem while still being sustainable, Nebraska has begun

implementing new farming technology, which may be the solution.

While Hawaii and Nebraska face different agricultural challenges, the new eco-friendly ideas being implemented into

Nebraska's farming can be used as a blueprint to help the success of farming in Hawaii. Nebraska

is not facing a water shortage crisis, but its decades-long drought has caused farmers to deplete

their wells faster and run up water and electricity bills

Using Crop X

To find a way to incorporate sustainable practices into their lifestyle and save water, many farmers in Nebraska began using the company

CropX, https://cropx.com/nz/ which is a cost-efficient and sustainable way to control water usage. CropX is a New Zealand-based company that Nebraskans predominantly began using.

The Way Crop X works

CropX has created a small, 12-inch diameter probe, which is manually inserted into the fields

and can measure different soil variables every two centimeters down to three feet. This device

can be connected to the CropX app, which is downloaded onto the farmer's phones and updated

Could CropX be a sustainable farming solution for Hawaii's water crisis?

If farmers used the probe daily to tell the varying amounts of water in their soil. This would allow the

farmers to accurately tell when the pivots need to be run or if the field can wait a few days to see

if the rainfall can hold over the field instead. Farmers can now be more sustainable and mindful

of their water usage, which inadvertently allows for lower water and electricity bills. The

company allows the farmers to rent the probes yearly instead of having to buy them, which

ensures the devices never start to deteriorate and keeps the cost low. This tiny object has been

able to make big changes in sustainable farming practices in Nebraska and and directly helps farmers cut down on

costs.

While CropX is currently not being utilized in Hawaii, this technology would be a very

simple addition to bring to Hawaii since it does not require a lot of space and would be easy to

transport to the islands. CropX would help the farmers accurately tell how much water is being

used and allow for more sustainable farming since no water is wasted or over pumped into the

soil. With the water crisis problem proving to be more and more prominent in farmers' lives,

CropX can be a small change that aligns with many Hawaiian farmers' sustainability ideals and

at the same time reduce their costs and make their farms more profitable.