YOUR BEST PRACTICE
Unlock benefits fromdata
By Nick Emanuel P 30 Irrigation TODAY | Summer 2024
recision irrigation is a whole-system approach to water management. It isn’t a single product, practice or method, but a comprehensive strategy
that integrates advanced technologies and practices. One of the fundamentals of precision agriculture is data. It doesn’t matter how precisely you can apply water or fertilizer if you don’t know what is needed. That’s where data comes in.
The power of data
As a fourth-generation grower from eastern Nebraska, I’ve been thinking about how to get the most from my crops my whole farming career using pivots. My experience is proof that capturing data from the soil and crops can
unlock tremendous value by boosting yields and saving time and resources.
When I first approached irrigation management, I realized that we needed more than educated guesses and rules of thumb. Managing irrigation without understanding soil moisture values and, more importantly, how soil moisture relates to the water-holding capacity of the field and the crop growth stage is like driving without a fuel gauge and an unknown fuel tank capacity. If you don’t know the size of the tank or the current fill level, you might fill it more often than necessary, failing to utilize its full capacity. Soil moisture data lets us know the size of the tank and provides us with a gauge to monitor it. This provides critical insight that helps avoid water and fertilizer loss through leaching below the root zone of your
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Photo: CropX Technologies
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