Expanding the GrowSphere portfolio with a new irrigation and fertigation solution designed as an accessible, right-sized entry point into connected automation
TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbia Advance Corporation S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ORBIA*) Precision Agriculture business, Netafim, today 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.
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. 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 two hectares account for approximately 84% of farms worldwide and produce around one-third of the world's food. 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.
With quick installation, built-in cellular connectivity and flexible configurations, the FLEX controller makes irrigation automation easier to adopt and scale 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. Crop Advisor adds crop-stage-based recommendations, supporting more informed decisions as part of an intuitive, right-sized solution tailored to smaller and mid-scale farm operations.
"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."
Built for diverse crops, FLEX can be used across open fields, orchards, vineyards, citrus, greenhouses and nurseries, supporting soil-based systems and operating in challenging hydraulic conditions. Over the past year, the controller has undergone an extensive beta phase in real-world field conditions, with installations across multiple regions, helping validate its performance across 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 about GrowSphere FLEX, visit:
https://www.netafim.com/en/digital-farming/growsphere--flex/
About Orbia
Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ORBIA*) is a company driven by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Orbia operates in the Polymer Solutions, Building & Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line) and Fluor & Energy Materials sectors. The five Orbia business groups have a collective focus on ensuring food and water security, expanding information access and connectivity and advancing decarbonization and the energy transition with basic and advanced materials, specialty products and innovative solutions. Orbia has a global team of over 22,000 employees, commercial activities in more than 100 countries and operations in over 50, with a strong U.S. manufacturing presence and headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. The company generated $7.6 billion in revenue in 2025. To learn more, visit: orbia.com
About Orbia Precision Agriculture (Netafim)
Orbia's Precision Agriculture business Netafim is the world's largest irrigation company and a global leader in precision agriculture solutions that address food, water and land scarcity for a sustainable future. Founded in 1965, Orbia Netafim pioneered the drip revolution, creating a paradigm shift toward precision irrigation. Today, by specializing in end-to-end solutions from the water source to the root zone, Orbia Netafim delivers irrigation and greenhouse projects as well as landscape and mining irrigation solutions supported by engineering, project management and financing services. Orbia Netafim is also leading the way in digital farming, irrigation and fertigation through integrating real-time monitoring, analysis and automated control into one state-of-the-art system. With 30 business units, 19 manufacturing plants, 2 recycling plants and 4,500 employees worldwide, Orbia Netafim delivers innovative, tailor-made irrigation and fertigation solutions to millions of farmers, allowing smallholders to large-scale agricultural producers and investors in over 100 countries to grow more with less.
Media Contact
Adi Ishay
Communications Manager
Orbia Precision Agriculture (Netafim)
adi.ishay@netafim.orbia.com
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