Press kit
What an editor or an award committee needs about FloraPulse, on one page: the boilerplate, the facts, the people, the awards, the logo and photos, and who to call.
Boilerplate
ShortFloraPulse makes the microtensiometer: a sensor embedded in the trunk of a tree or vine that measures the plant’s water potential continuously and sends the readings to a dashboard, so growers irrigate on what the plant is actually experiencing. Developed at Cornell University and based in Davis, California, FloraPulse is used by growers and researchers in orchards and vineyards around the world.
LongFloraPulse Co. makes the microtensiometer, a sensor that is embedded in the trunk of a tree or vine and measures stem water potential — the tension in the plant’s own water column, the most direct measure of its water stress — continuously, every 20 minutes, through the growing season. The readings reach a dashboard and an irrigation recommendation, so a grower irrigates on what the plant is experiencing rather than on a soil probe, a weather model or a weekly pressure-chamber reading.
The sensor was developed at Cornell University from 2007 by Abraham Stroock, Alan Lakso and Michael Santiago; the company was founded in 2016 and is based in Davis, California. Its sensors run in almond, wine grape, cherry, olive, prune and other tree and vine crops, for commercial growers and for research groups on several continents, and its results are the subject of dozens of peer-reviewed papers. In 2026 FloraPulse received the International Society for Horticultural Science’s Horticulture Innovation Award, was named Smart Meter of the Year in the AgTech Breakthrough Awards, and won a WINnovation Award from Wine Industry Network.
Facts at a glance
| Company | FloraPulse Co., trading as FloraPulse |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; the sensor in development there since 2007 |
| Headquarters | Davis, California, USA |
| What it makes | The microtensiometer, a stem water potential sensor embedded in the trunk of a tree or vine; the 4G logger that reads it every 20 minutes; the dashboard and irrigation recommendations built on the readings; SDI-12 and analog versions of the sensor for research dataloggers |
| Crops | Almond, wine grape, cherry, olive, prune, pear and other tree and vine crops — the current list, with each crop’s validation status, is the crop database |
| Awards | ISHS Horticulture Innovation Award (International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), 2026); Smart Meter of the Year (AgTech Breakthrough Awards, 2026); WINnovation Award (Wine Industry Network, 2026) — each with the organization’s own announcement on the awards page |
| Research | Dozens of peer-reviewed papers use the microtensiometer; the list is on the resources page |
The people behind the sensor
Mechanical Engineering PhD, Cornell University. Michael made the microtensiometer survive outdoors — the packaging, the installation and the data path from the tree to the grower — and founded FloraPulse in 2016 to bring it to orchards and vineyards.
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University and Director of the NSF Center CROPPS. His research in nanotechnology and microfluidics produced the microtensiometer sensor chip.
Emeritus Professor of Plant Science at Cornell University, with more than forty years advising fruit growers on water management. His work on the limits of the manual pressure chamber is what the sensor set out to answer.
Logo and photos
For editorial use, with the credit “FloraPulse Co.”. All of them, with previews, in one place: the press kit folder.
- florapulse-logo-color.png — Logo, color, 2500 × 1312 px, transparent background
- florapulse-logo-white.png — Logo, white, for dark backgrounds, 3333 × 1250 px
- florapulse-sensor-in-vine-trunk.jpg — The microtensiometer installed in a vine trunk, with its logger cable and the drip line, California
- florapulse-small-stem-sensor-on-branch.jpg — The small-stem clamp sensor on a branch
- florapulse-team-davis-2026.jpg — The FloraPulse team outside the Davis, California office, 2026
Field and product photos for a particular story, the Kyoto award photo, and interviews with the founders: ask Jeff Jenkins below.
Coverage and recognition
Press coverage since 2016 is on FloraPulse in the News; the awards, each linked to the awarding organization’s own announcement, on the awards page.
Jeff Jenkins, Sales Director — jeff@florapulse.com, +1 559-284-7035