Orbia Netafim launches GrowSphere FLEX for irrigation and fertigation

Orbia Advance Corporation's precision agriculture business, Netafim, announced the launch of GrowSphere FLEX, a smart irrigation and fertigation controller developed to bring professional digital farming capabilities to smallholders and mid-sized farmers.

As part of the wider GrowSphere portfolio, FLEX supports Orbia Netafim's closed-loop approach to digital farming, enabling farmers to continuously optimize irrigation, improve efficiency and enhance crop performance, according to the company.

"Building on GrowSphere’s expanding global footprint, with thousands of users across more than 100,000 hectares in dozens of countries, FLEX strengthens a portfolio approach tailored to different farm sizes and levels of complexity," the company said. "It allows more growers to adopt connected automation with a solution that fits their needs, as GrowSphere MAX delivers advanced capabilities for larger commercial operations.

"Farms under 2  hectares account for approximately 84% of farms worldwide and produce around one-third of the world’s food," the company continued. "These growers, alongside mid-scale farmers, play an important role across agricultural value chains, from local food production and horticulture to globally traded crops such as coffee and cocoa. Yet many remain underserved by advanced automation tools built around the scale, infrastructure and budgets of larger commercial operations. FLEX was developed to close that gap, helping smaller farmers improve irrigation decisions, reduce manual work and strengthen resource efficiency through an automated, scalable solution."

The FLEX controller has built-in cellular connectivity and flexible configurations to enable irrigation automation across different crops, field layouts and farm needs. Through GrowSphere Workspace, growers can remotely manage irrigation and fertigation, monitor field and system performance with sensors, reports and alerts, and use cloud-based insights to make more timely operational decisions. The company's Crop Advisor also adds crop-stage-based recommendations.

“Innovation in digital farming cannot stop at large-scale agriculture,” said Gaby Miodownik, president of Orbia’s Precision Agriculture business (Netafim). “With FLEX, we are bringing Agriculture 4.0 within reach for farms of different sizes, needs and stages of digital adoption. It reflects Orbia Netafim’s commitment to expanding access to smart irrigation and fertigation, giving more farmers practical tools to manage their operations with greater clarity, control and confidence.”

FLEX can be used across open fields, orchards, vineyards, citrus, greenhouses and nurseries. Over the past year, the controller has undergone an extensive beta phase in real-world field conditions, with installations across multiple regions in a range of climates and irrigation setups. 

“On a smaller farm, every irrigation decision shows up quickly in the crop,” said Theo Minnaar, a sugarcane grower in South Africa. “What FLEX gives me is better visibility and more control. I can see what is happening, respond earlier and manage water and nutrients more accurately without making the system complicated.”

FLEX is being introduced through a phased global rollout. To learn more, click here.