BIG DATA
more definite plans in place for more effective irrigation.
It’s important to remember that even the most efficiently designed system, if poorly managed, isn’t actually efficient, Owens says. It takes expertise and a commitment to both collect data and actually pay attention to it to get the most out of it.
One challenge can be that there are so many different platforms for water use and other data collection. “It just becomes a crazy chaos of ‘This manages the tractor data and this manages the combine data and this manages the water data,’” Harsch says.
When starting out, remember that data collection is just a resource like anything else on the farm. “It’s just like your tractor or combine. It is not the end-all, be-all,” she says. “It still has to have human interaction.” While there are many options available for tracking different kinds of data, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Take
a look at your crops and production goals, and determine what would be a useful place to start or to have more concrete numbers to work with.
“For a lot of growers, maybe this starts from finding one data point that works for you, and then building from that to see what you can use,” says Harsch. “Take it piece by piece, because truly you will find it overwhelming if you take on too much at once.” It might be worthwhile to plan to add a little bit of new technology each year.
Don’t approach data collection as a replacement for water management and experience or generational knowledge, Alsina says. “You still need to know how to manage,” she says. “People cannot think this is a substitute. It’s a layer of help to be more efficient. But you still have to have your own target.”
Kyle Brown and can be reached at
kylebrown@irrigation.org.
Even in a wel- designed system, there can be an oportunity for irigaton to be managed more eficiently by aplying data tracking.
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Spring 2022 | Irrigation TODAY 15
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