UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The role of irrigation in agriculture #
Water is such an interesting part of agriculture. Needed in all living cells. Competing uses, etc
Inputs, outputs, stocks. Irrigation fills the gaps.
Management of irrigation focuses on soil moisture, either by working with an input-output balance or by measuring the stocks directly.
Non-digital management tools #
The calendar, the shovel, and eye are all well tested technologies in use in irrigation management. Many irrigators use a combination of these tools.
Much irrigation is performed to a schedule: e.g. 25 mm every 5 days between 1 May and 1 August. This accounts for inputs to the system, but has a pretty limited handle on outputs or stocks.
The shovel is a tool that focuses on the stocks component of the system: does the soil seem wet in the root zone of the crop. This is a more intensive approach to irrigation management than using the calendar, as it requires visiting the field, hopefully at several sampling points.
The eye is obviously needed in conjunction with calendar to know the rate of water input to the systemand in conjunction with the shovel to assess soil moisture, but it can also be turned towards the growing crop itself to assess water stress. By the time water stress is visible to the human eye in a crop, it is likely that the crop has already suffered a yield penalty.
When water is cheap and freely available, and there is the available labour to irrigate freely, these tools are quite reliable.
Digital management tools #
Water inputs #
Technologies #
Rate quantification: Rain gauges
Variable rate:
Positioning: Rain dancer
Suppliers #
Water outputs #
Technologies #
Rate quantification is generally acheived using models water movement. The main focus is on evapotranspiration: the amount of water lost from the soil to the atmosphere (evaporation) and use by the crop (transpiration). Percolation – water leaving the root zone to deeper soils from gravity – is often included in more advanced models. Other forces such as capillary action or diffusion are rarely included owing to their more minor role.
The Penman-Monteith is the most widely adopted model of evapotranspiration. Accurate application of this model requires data on temperature, wind speed, solar radiation.
Suppliers #
| Name | Temperature | Wind Speed | Solar Radiation | Evapotranspriation model | Connectivity |
| Sencrop | X | X | X | X | 4G /LoRa / Sigfox |
| Cordulus | X | X | X | ? | ? |
Soil mositure stocks #
Technologies #
Suppliers #
Water stress identification #
Technologies #
Suppliers #
Digital platform #
Technologies #
Suppliers #
Complete solutions #
No one offers the complete solution. This is where a good retailer who can bundle solutions is needed.
Many offer sufficient solutions for irrigation needs managment, but don’t have variable rate hardware (or really irrigation hardware at all).
