Soil Moisture Sensor Market

Some 164,779 irrigated US farms timed their watering by the look of the crop in 2023, while just 27,831 used a soil moisture sensing device, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) table on methods used in deciding when to irrigate. The soil moisture sensor market covers probes that read volumetric water content or soil water tension in the root zone, sold to farms, turf managers, greenhouses and research networks. Douglas Insights estimates that market at USD 396.3 million in 2025, built as 2.311 million sensors at an average USD 171.5 each, and projects USD 1.09 billion in 2035, a revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.61% over 2026 to 2035. New hardware keeps arriving: LI-COR launched its LI-300 and LI-350 soil moisture sensors on 30 April 2026. Related titles sit in our precision agriculture research, and the unit and price arithmetic follows the Douglas Insights research methodology.

Which sensing technology segment makes the money in soil moisture sensors?

Capacitance and frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR) probes make the money, with 43.2% of soil moisture sensor revenue, or USD 171.2 million in 2025 by our model. Low power draw, multi-depth packaging and prices that suit dense farm networks explain the lead, and the segment also grows fastest, at 12.6% a year to USD 560.9 million by 2035.

METER Group shows why the capacitance and frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR) probes segment wins: its TEROS 10 measures at 70 MHz to damp salinity and texture effects, quotes a generic accuracy of plus or minus 0.03 cubic metres per cubic metre, and lists at USD 145.00. That price lets a grower wire three depths for well under USD 500.

Time-domain reflectometry (TDR) sensors hold 17.6%, worth USD 69.7 million, because research and data-logger users pay for travel-time accuracy. Campbell Scientific’s CS655 reflectometer reports water content, bulk electrical conductivity and temperature on 12 cm rods, and needs no soil-specific calibration where bulk conductivity stays at or below 8 dS per metre. Granular matrix and resistive sensors take 15.3%, or USD 60.6 million, on cost: the IRROMETER WATERMARK 200SS reads soil water tension from 0 to 200 centibars, needs no calibration and stays in the root zone all season.

Tensiometers carry 11.8%, USD 46.8 million, and grow slowest at 6.9% a year because their water-filled tubes need servicing that busy growers now avoid. Neutron probe and gypsum block sensors make up 12.1%, USD 48.0 million, a legacy pool expanding 7.6% a year as the handling burden of radioactive sources and the short life of gypsum blocks push users toward dielectric probes. Douglas Insights puts the capacitance and frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR) probes share at 51.8% of segment revenue by 2035, up 8.6 points.

Why are irrigators putting more soil moisture probes into the root zone?

Unit volume grows 9.35% a year because farms swap eyeballing for soil moisture probes, platforms bundle sensors with software, and smart controllers pull probes into lawns. Douglas Insights splits that soil moisture sensor volume leg into four drivers worth 4.12, 2.36, 1.48 and 1.39 points, which together explain the full 9.35% unit growth to 2035.

Farm scheduling conversion: 4.12 points

The largest reserve is the farm that still schedules by eye. USDA counts 212,714 irrigated farms, and 77.5% name crop condition as a timing method, against 13.1% that use a soil moisture sensing device. At our replacement rate of 8.4 sensors per farm per year, every point of penetration gained adds about 17,868 soil moisture sensors and USD 3.15 million at the farm price of USD 176.4. Douglas Insights expects US penetration to pass 22% of irrigated farms by 2035, and similar conversion in Asia and Latin America supplies 4.12 points of unit growth.

Sensor-plus-software platforms: 2.36 points

Agronomy platforms sell soil moisture sensors as the entry hardware for a subscription, which multiplies probe counts per farm. CropX, which pairs soil sensors with a farm management system used in more than 70 countries, announced its acquisition of SCIO on 26 August 2026, its eighth acquisition since 2020, adding handheld near-infrared crop quality analyzers to the same dashboard. Sentek reports Drill and Drop and EnviroSCAN probe deployments in over 80 countries. Bundled subscriptions add 2.36 points to soil moisture sensor unit growth in our model, the second-largest driver.

Smart landscape controllers: 1.48 points

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says a WaterSense labeled soil moisture-based controller saves an average irrigated home more than 15,000 gallons of water a year. Toro’s Precision Soil Sensor shows the format: a slim probe on 3 AA batteries rated for about two years, talking to the controller by 900 MHz radio across up to 500 feet. Our model counts 612,000 landscape and turf sensors in 2025 at an average USD 88.6, and the shift from clock timers to sensor-based control adds 1.48 points.

Research and environmental networks: 1.39 points

Research buyers add sensors one depth at a time. Stevens Water Monitoring Systems says its HydraProbe has been relied on by USDA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), farmers and universities for over 25 years, and METER Group’s TEROS 54 profile probe reads four depths, 15, 30, 45 and 60 cm, through one cable. The LI-300 and LI-350 launch from LI-COR widens that research channel further. Linked networks, from field stations to the imaging fleets covered in our Precision Agriculture Drones Market report, contribute 1.39 points.

Which barriers stop soil moisture probes from spreading past the pilot field?

Three barriers remove about 2.51 points from soil moisture sensor volume growth: installation and site calibration labour, fragmented logger and software formats, and thin cash margins on smallholder farms. Without them, Douglas Insights would model unit growth near 11.86% a year rather than 9.35%, so each barrier is measurable.

Installation labour removes 1.05 points. A soil moisture probe reads only the soil touching it, so air gaps, stones and poor depth placement corrupt the data, and a dealer visit can cost more than a USD 46.95 granular matrix sensor. Growers who saw bad readings in year one rarely buy a second soil moisture sensor network.

Fragmented data formats remove 0.62 points. Probes, loggers and cloud dashboards from different vendors rarely share one data model, so a farm with two brands runs two apps. Thin smallholder margins remove a further 0.84 points: Asia holds 70% of the world’s irrigated land but most plots are too small to justify a USD 171.5 average soil moisture sensor plus telemetry.

How much do growers pay for a soil moisture probe, from tensiometer to TDR?

Growers pay about USD 171.5 per soil moisture sensor on our model’s blended 2025 average, inside a band running from under USD 50 for granular matrix sensors to several hundred dollars for research reflectometers. Douglas Insights projects that average rising 1.15% a year to USD 192.3 by 2035 as multi-parameter probes gain share.

Research-grade soil moisture sensors cost most because they add conductivity and temperature channels and come with logger integration. Campbell Scientific keeps CS655 pricing behind a customer sign-in, a sign that most research sensors sell through quotes rather than lists. Landscape probes sit at the bottom at USD 88.6 because controller makers bundle them in kits.

Price moves slowly. Volume wins. A 1.15% annual price leg is small next to the 9.35% volume leg, so volume creates about 89% of the soil moisture sensor revenue gain to 2035.

Which companies win soil moisture sensor contracts from farms, golf courses and research networks?

METER Group leads with an estimated 14.2% of soil moisture sensor revenue, and Douglas Insights ranks the top three, METER Group, Campbell Scientific and Sentek, at 31.6% combined. No supplier discloses soil moisture sensor revenue, so these shares rest on product breadth, channel reach and stated deployments rather than filings.

METER Group’s edge is breadth: capacitance probes at USD 145.00 for networks, a four-depth profile probe and a cloud platform. Campbell Scientific wins where buyers already own its loggers. Sentek, an Australian specialist, owns the multi-depth probe niche on tree crops and vines, while IRROMETER sells the cheapest credible soil moisture sensor through irrigation dealers.

Stevens Water Monitoring Systems holds federal and university networks with the HydraProbe. The Toro Company and other controller makers reach turf through installers, and CropX turns the soil moisture sensor into a subscription anchor across more than 70 countries. LI-COR is the newest entrant; its LI-350 adds electrical conductivity and digital volumetric water output for greenhouse growers, and Douglas Insights forecasts it passing 3% share by 2030.

Where do soil moisture sensor sales grow fastest by region?

North America leads with 36.4% of soil moisture sensor revenue, USD 144.3 million in 2025 by our model, while Asia Pacific grows fastest at 13.3% a year. Asia Pacific reaches USD 363.2 million by 2035 and overtakes North America’s USD 338.5 million, because irrigated area, not wealth, decides where probes go next.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Statistical Yearbook 2022 put the world’s area equipped for irrigation at 349 million hectares in 2020, with Asia holding 70% of it. Asia Pacific starts at USD 104.2 million because sensor penetration on small plots is low, and that low base drives the region’s 13.3% rate as subsidised drip programmes add probes.

North America grows 8.9% a year from USD 144.3 million, carried by 53.1 million irrigated US acres and dense dealer networks. Europe holds USD 98.7 million and grows 9.5% as water abstraction limits tighten for vegetable and orchard growers. Latin America, at USD 28.1 million and 11.6% a year, follows export fruit and sugarcane irrigation in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

Middle East and Africa is the wildcard: USD 21.0 million in 2025 by our model, growing 10.22% a year to USD 55.6 million. Where irrigation water comes from desalination or deep aquifers, a soil moisture sensor pays back fastest, but project finance decides timing.

How many irrigated farms already schedule water with a soil moisture sensing device?

Only 13.1% of the 212,714 irrigated US farms in the USDA survey use a soil moisture sensing device, against 77.5% that watch crop condition and 40.0% that feel the soil. That gap, 5.9 farms judging by eye for every sensor farm, is the largest volume reserve in the soil moisture sensor market.

Farm irrigation supplies 51.6% of soil moisture sensor units and 53.1% of value in our model. Research and environmental monitoring buys only 318,000 units but earns USD 108.8 million because each probe averages USD 342.0. Greenhouse and nursery demand, worth USD 22.8 million, rides the same climate-control spending tracked in our Commercial Greenhouse Automation Market study.

Will wireless soil moisture telemetry nodes overtake cabled data loggers?

Wireless soil moisture sensors overtake wired ones in 2032 in our model, rising from 41.6% of 2025 revenue, USD 164.9 million, at 13.8% a year. Wired probes keep USD 231.4 million today and grow 7.6% a year, because research loggers and centre-pivot panels still favour cables.

Wireless soil moisture sensor revenue reaches USD 600.7 million by 2035 against USD 481.4 million for wired. Wired sensors still win where lightning, rodents and long data records matter more than installation speed. Battery life sets the pace: Toro rates its wireless probe at about two years on 3 AA cells.

Which irrigation rules and WaterSense standards reward soil moisture sensing?

Two US instruments shape soil moisture sensor demand: an EPA WaterSense specification and conservation practice standard 449. The EPA released its final WaterSense specification for soil moisture-based irrigation controllers on 11 February 2021, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) standard 449 for irrigation water management, dated October 2024, lists soil moisture monitoring as an accepted timing method.

EPA estimates that replacing clock-based controllers in every residential US irrigation system with WaterSense labeled soil moisture-based controllers would save more than 390 billion gallons a year. Standard 449 asks plans that use soil moisture sensors to state monitoring objectives and how readings at each sensor location and depth feed irrigation decisions. Cost-share programmes that follow the standard reward documented sensor use.

Douglas Insights calculates that rule-linked buying, through WaterSense rebates and conservation cost-share, touches 21.7% of US soil moisture sensor units. Utilities that subsidise these controllers often meter the same customers, a link explored in our Smart Water Metering Infrastructure Market report.

Scenarios to 2035: how far can soil moisture probe volumes stretch?

Base case: USD 1.09 billion in 2035. Volume grows 9.35% a year and price 1.15%. A slower case with 6.8% and 0.6% ends at USD 812.3 million, and a faster case with 11.9% and 1.6% lands at USD 1.43 billion, so volume decides the soil moisture sensor spread.

Volume is the lever. Price barely matters. One extra point of annual unit growth lifts the 2035 soil moisture sensor total by USD 103.5 million; one point less trims USD 95.3 million. Outside forecasters span roughly 8.7% to 14.8% a year, and our 10.61% lands below their 11.75% midpoint because we hold the price leg near 1.15%.

The faster case needs multi-parameter launches such as the LI-COR LI-350 to spread conductivity sensing into greenhouses, and platform buyers like CropX to keep adding sensors per farm. The slower case follows from US penetration stalling near 15% of irrigated farms.

Douglas Exclusive: the soil moisture sensor deployment register

The deployment register is a Douglas Insights model built from 21 data points, 12 of them sourced and 9 of them our own assumptions; no agency publishes such a list. It places 2.311 million soil moisture sensors into five deployment pools and shows US farms buying 233,780 of them, 19.6% of farm units.

The finding is a mismatch. A big one. US farms take 19.6% of farm sensor units while US irrigated land, 53.1 million acres or about 21.5 million hectares, is 6.2% of the global irrigated area. Outside the US, our register implies roughly 2.9 sensors bought per 1,000 irrigated hectares a year, against 10.9 in the US.

The 12 sourced inputs are the four USDA scheduling counts, US irrigated acres, two FAO irrigation figures, two published sensor prices, the EPA savings figure and the CropX and Sentek country reach. Change the 8.4 sensors-per-farm assumption by one sensor and our model moves the 2025 total by about USD 25.0 million.

What should an irrigation dealer test before specifying a soil moisture probe for a client?

Dealers should test three things before quoting a soil moisture probe: salinity tolerance, depth coverage and telemetry range, because a USD 145.00 capacitance probe and a USD 46.95 granular matrix sensor answer different questions. Matching the soil moisture sensor to soil, crop root depth and radio path prevents most first-year failures.

Salinity first. Always. The CS655 holds accuracy without soil-specific calibration up to 8 dS per metre of bulk conductivity, and the TEROS 10 quotes plus or minus 0.03 cubic metres per cubic metre in mineral soils below that level. Depth second: a four-depth profile probe such as the TEROS 54 covers 15 to 60 cm in one hole. Range third: the Toro wireless probe reaches 500 feet line of sight, enough for a lawn but not a quarter-section pivot.

Methodology: how were 2.311 million soil moisture sensors priced and summed?

We multiplied 2.311 million soil moisture sensors by an average USD 171.5 to reach USD 396.3 million in 2025, then grew units 9.35% and price 1.15% a year to USD 1.09 billion in 2035. Five regions and five technology segments each sum to the global total.

Units: 27,831 US sensor farms times 8.4 sensors gives 233,780; dividing by 19.6% gives 1,192,755 farm units; adding 612,000 landscape, 318,000 research and 188,000 greenhouse units gives 2,310,755. Prices: application averages of USD 176.4, USD 88.6, USD 342.0 and USD 121.5 weight to USD 171.47, rounded to USD 171.5. Check one: application revenue sums to USD 396.2 million, 0.03% from the receipt. Check two: our model rolls a published estimate of USD 358.2 million for the prior year forward at 10.61% and gets USD 396.2 million, also within 0.03%. Check three: four published CAGRs from 8.7% to 14.8% bracket our 10.61%.

Sources

1. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Table 25. Methods Used in Deciding When to Irrigate: 2023 (2024)
2. LI-COR LI-300 and LI-350 Soil Moisture Sensors launch (2026)
3. CropX CropX acquires SCIO (2026)
4. FAO Statistical Yearbook 2022: World Food and Agriculture (2022)
5. US EPA WaterSense Soil Moisture-Based Irrigation Controllers (2021)
6. USDA NRCS Conservation Practice Standard 449 Irrigation Water Management (2024)
7. METER Group TEROS 10 soil moisture sensor (2026)
8. Campbell Scientific CS655 12 cm Soil Moisture and Temperature Sensor (2026)
9. IRROMETER WATERMARK sensors (2026)
10. Stevens Water Monitoring Systems HydraProbe (2026)