Farmers increasingly face challenges from changing weather conditions, rising production costs, and the need to use water, fertilizers, and pesticides more efficiently while maintaining crop yields

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded $586,000 to the University of Maine on February 15, 2026, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to develop and test HRFarm, a low-cost automated farm monitoring system using smart sensors, wireless communication, and artificial intelligence to continuously observe crop, soil, and field conditions.

The project will deploy the system in real farm environments to help farmers detect crop stress, disease, and field problems early, manage water and nutrients more efficiently, and respond to disease or stress risks. The University of Maine will also train students and agricultural professionals in modern farming technologies. Work is performed in Orono, Maine, with a period of performance through February 14, 2030. The assistance type is a Project Grant under CFDA 10.310, which supports research, education, and extension activities across six farm bill priority areas including plant health and production, agriculture systems and technology, and agriculture economics and rural communities.

However, many farms lack affordable tools to continuously monitor crop and soil conditions, making IT difficult to detect crop stress, disease, or field problems early enough for effective action. Improving farm monitoring systems is important not only for farmers' profitability, but also for supporting stable food production and strong rural economies. This project will develop and test a low-cost, automated farm monitoring system called hrfarm that uses smart sensors, wireless communication, and artificial intelligence to continuously observe crop, soil, and field conditions in agricultural fields. The system will be tested in real farm environments, and the collected information will be analyzed to help farmers better understand crop health, manage water and nutrients more efficiently, and respond earlier to disease or stress risks. By providing reliable, easy-to-use monitoring tools and training students and agricultural professionals in modern farming technologies, the project aims to improve farm productivity, reduce unnecessary input use, strengthen farm management practices, and support long-term agricultural productivity benefiting farmers, rural communities, and consumers.