Customized real-time visibility dataloggers designed to help farmers save time, money and stress
- Apr 29
- 3 min read
By Jeff Tribe
Rola Elghonimy’s role as Farmer Outreach for Apidae Systems has allowed her to discover just how busy her clients are.
“They can’t catch a break, they’re always working, they’re very busy.”
One beef farming client will return her emails at 4 a.m. says Elghonimy, and alternatively, call at 10:30 p.m.
“Even on Sundays. He never gets a break.”
The fully-Canadian Ottawa-based company looks to help answer that reality through providing producers real-time ‘electronic eyes on their crops’ connection to fields or growing environments along with customized datalogging, all accessed through their phones or computers.
Although the company’s branding centres around an ability to measure anything, anywhere from concrete to composite materials, her presence at the 2026 Ontario Hazelnut Association Symposium Thursday, March 19 inside the University of Guelph’s Arboretum focussed on that crop.
She and company founder and CEO Ming Chen brought along an illustrative weatherproof datalogger combination. Although Apidae can source over 100 unique sensors, a more-typical farm-based unit may include in-ground monitors reading/recording soil humidity, compaction, temperature, pH levels and electrical conductivity (an indication of mineral levels). The unit will also likely feature an electronic rain gauge, solar radiation sensor and possibly a camera, the combination powered by solar cells and batteries or a standard wall plug if one is easily accessible. The units are connected to clients either through WiFi or cellular data.
Some assembly may be required, but it is of a plug-and-play nature Elghonimy emphasized, simpler in practice she says than products from a popular furniture manufacturer.
Laughing, she described her secondary role as company guinea pig. Considered to be among its less tech-savvy members, she acted as ‘the monkey in the maze.’
“Even the low-tech person can set it up easily.”
Accurate, quantifiable and storable data allows producers to take an educated approach says Elghonimy, saving time by reducing on-site monitoring. For instance, a hazelnut producer whose orchard is 45 minutes away from their home can make real-time informed decisions about supplemental watering.
“He knows when he has to go irrigate.”
Proactive measures including adequate watering are seen as a line of defence against disease including blight, maintaining resistance through tree health.
Field data can assist in informing fertilizer application rates, potentially an avenue for significant cost savings. There is also the security or additional level of insurance component, greenhouse operators able to monitor conditions for potentially sensitive crops, others able to identify pests through either standard or thermal imaging cameras.
“You can relax, you have have that peace of mind of what’s going on in your fields without actually being there,” said Elghonimy.
Apidae’s approach is to sell and service the hardware, not a subscription system.
“It’s kind of like a tractor, you own it.”
Sensors can be added or upgraded to reflect new technology or changing requirements.
“We’ll do our best to integrate it into your system.”
In general, the company recommends one system for each type of growing environment. A 5,000 acre farm with one soil type, elevation, sun and slope conditions may only require one unit. However, if a farm has, for example, three distinct zones, three would be recommended to reflect the reality in each.
Cost is dependent on hardware requirements, but as a rough example, Elghonimy pointed to a weatherproof solar-powered system with a rain gauge, and electrical conductivity, soil temperature and moisture and air humidity sensors running around $2,000. One put together for her busy beef farming client featuring 11 sensors and a camera was in the $3,000 range.
“It gets rid of a lot of the guesswork,” Elghonimy summed up, the bonus being, reducing stress on crops may also reduce associated stress on those responsible for producing them. “It can help save a ton of time.”
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