When you operate a farm, you plan and budget as best you can. One of your major costs, naturally, is water. Efficient water usage affects your bottom line.
Not only that, it affects the world at large. The World Water Summit in Mexico City reported, back in 2006, that inefficient farm irrigation was a major contributor to worldwide water scarcity. Here in the U.S. the USDA reports that agriculture accounts for approximately 80 percent of consumptive water use. They say that managing water wisely “may also reduce the impact of irrigated production on offsite water quality while conserving water for growing non-agricultural demands.”
So let’s take a look at some ways you can track your water usage to start managing it to the best of your ability. Some of the methods are still emerging and will continue to evolve.
Soil Sensors
Some form of soil sensor is commonplace on farms today, not to mention home gardens and suburban yards. Sensors placed into the soil measure water content indirectly, such as by measuring electrical conductivity. Now, with a growing interest in water conservation, technology is advancing sensors available for agriculture. A more recent development is sensors that measure rainfall by sound. Sensors range from simple to more complex. They may be electric or solar-powered. Soil sensors can network with irrigation pumps, using wires or wirelessly, and the sensors tell the pumps when to water the crops. Data can be sent to a mobile phone.
Irrigation Scheduling Software
Several companies offer their own software to manage and schedule watering. They integrate with soil sensors and other components of an irrigation system to show you quantifiable, real-time data. The software can combine information about weather, root depth, crop type, temperature, and humidity to arrive at a recommendation. In the past you would have to do a lot of math on your own to determine with a software program can in seconds.
Apps
Some farmers find apps useful for monitoring and responding to irrigation needs on the fly. Apps may leverage not only data from your own land, but crunch public data as well. For example, the
Crop Water Use app, available to Missouri farmers, estimates crop water use based on weather station data across the state. It also taps the National Weather Service for weather information specific to the farms’ latitude and longitude. It even estimates crop evapotranspiration using weather data and predicted crop growth stage. Another app, EEFLUX, produces field-scale maps of water consumption using satellite imagery. It allows users to check water-use maps in near real-time on any mobile device.
Drones
As drones become more prevalent and affordable, people find more and better uses for them. You can equip a drone with cameras, infrared signalling, or other apparatus to collect data.
It’s much cheaper than satellite imagery. Developers are creating a number of apps to work in tandem with drones, sending data to your phone or other device. MIT Technology Review says of this technology, “More and better data can reduce water use and lower the chemical load in our environment and our food.”
Crop Tattooes
This one is still a few years away from wide use. Crop tattoos are actually tiny graphene sensors with an adhesive backing. They measure leaf surface humidity. “Essentially,” explains Farm Journal AgTech, “the sensor records how much and how fast a plant drinks.” Dust and external humidity levels don’t affect sensor performance, according to the tattooes’ inventor. Patrick Schnable, head of Iowa State University’s (ISU) Plant Sciences Institute, says, “We’re excited because farmers are going to be able to use these to make water management decisions.” Initial field trials begin in 2018-2019 in Iowa and Nebraska.
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