The most crucial
component of adoption planning is team buy-in.
Once the desired outcome (or outcomes) is identified, it is important to recognize any limitations that may prevent acquiring the determined result. These limitations may be equipment ability, financial ability, water quality, water quantity, potential environmental conditions, a consistent energy source, existing management practices, or even existing management beliefs. Regardless of the desired outcome or challenges, producers must correctly identify both. Then, and only then, will the producer be ready to analyze the desired result and develop an adoption plan to achieve it.
You may have noticed that there has been very little mention of technology up to this point. That’s because technology is rarely the limiting factor in adopting precision irrigation. For example, moisture sensors from any given company will be consistently the same from one sensor to the next. Irrigation monitoring and controlling devices are always the same and work for one grower precisely the same as another. Any given software will be the same from farm to farm and producer to producer. So, when it comes to technology, we merely
need to know what it was designed to do and determine if it will provide the service to achieve the desired outcome. The remaining challenges will be human related.
Producers who oversee ag operations are conceptually and habitually different. They have differing beliefs, values, goals and objectives for their organizations. These human differences cause significant challenges when implementing precision irrigation technology. Therefore, every precision irrigation adoption plan will be different. But regardless of how different they may be, the most crucial component of adoption planning is team buy-in. Without buy-in from the entire team, the goals and objectives of the producers will fail or, at best, experience limited success. However, once the producer’s team determines precision irrigation is suitable for the operation, and everyone commits to moving ahead, then the implementation process will begin and end successfully.
The best precision irrigation adoption plans follow a three-step process of training, equipping and developing the entire operation. This process works well in most organizations because it addresses the human side of
28 Irrigation TODAY | July 2018
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
