EQUIPMENT


pump status to a mobile device 24 hours a day, who wouldn’t want that? This is especially true with farm size on the rise.


Most commonly, this type of technology is used for monitoring, but it can have the ability to start/stop and change the speed of a sprinkler or pump. This is a game changer for irrigation efficiency! Now, when a soil moisture sensor tells you that you don’t need to irrigate, you can shut the water off with a mobile device (if properly equipped), eliminating one of the biggest deterrents of saving water — the effort of going to each field to shut off and restart.


This is an example of a 120-acre pivot and the soil variability found within that field when looking at water- holding capacity. Lighter blue holds less water and darker blue holds more water. Managing them differently using VRI can help reduce over- or under-watering, improving yield in all areas.


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 


 


Telemetry also allows for speed control options to implement variable rate irrigation. Soil variability is a huge topic. From topography to texture and organic matter, there are variations in all of these in almost every field, and they all affect water in some way, from infiltration to holding capacity.


This is an example solution to apply variable amounts of irrigation to sectors of the same field using speed control on exiistin telemetry. The numbers indicate the inch application rate for that irrigation event; red areas are a lower application rate, and green are higher. Applying more water to drier s and less water to wetter soils after a rainfal event can help optimize root activity in both soil environments.


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rainfalll 12 Irrigation TODAY | Winter 2020


With speed control and proper spatial soils information, you can now apply the optimal amount of water based on what that soil demands at the time using VRI. The ROI from this technology is more difficult to measure without building in some checks or using historical data to compare with results, but look for a yield increase and potential water savings when trying to calculate ROI.


irrigationtoday.org


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