Last season’s water shortage has brought more awareness for more Sustainable Irrigation

Compliance with regulations 

In most cases, there are regulations that limit the amount of water that can be used for irrigation, and you must ensure you are not exceeding these limits. You need to keep track of abstraction licenses, which are licenses to pump water out of the rivers. This is measured in metres cubed (m3) of water. 

Water conservation 

Irrigation is a vital tool for maintaining crop health, but it can also lead to water waste if not managed properly. By tracking your water usage, you can identify areas where you can reduce water usage and improve efficiency. Water is a valuable resource, and efficient use of irrigation can help you control costs. By tracking your water usage, you can identify ways to reduce water waste and minimise costs. 

Sustainable Irrigation 

Agriculture is a significant contributor to water usage, and you have a responsibility to minimise your impact on water resources. You can assess the impact of your practices and make changes to adopt more sustainable irrigation methodologies. 

How can you accurately measure water usage? 

The most common way to monitor water levels, is by moisture depth. This is measure by the surface covered in millimetres. Each crop type is different and the depth of moisture needed varies per crop. When growing during the summer, it is imperative to organise the irrigation effectively. 

Sustainable Irrigation removes guess work

You need to make judgements on water usage measured against the stress of the plants. This is done through crop walk, collecting data on the stress levels in the plant, using a moisture sensor to poke in the soil. Once you known the depth of the moisture you can calculate how much water is needed and you can create a recommendation in LiveFarmer for a certain millimetre of water needed. 

Irrigation equipment measurements 

Irrigation equipment has a coverage area, which is how much area of a field it can spray at one time. The area of planting is known from the initial field mapping. Take a field that is 130m wide, with an irrigation boom of 65m. This means you will need to perform two passes of the field to cover it completely. The booms are pulled by the hose reel across the field, and the number of times you need to do this is referred to as pulls. Each boom dispenses a certain amount of water, so to add more, you pull the boom slower.

Practical uses for Sustainable Irrigation

With the known area of the field, multiplied by the depth used, you can calculate how much water has been taken out of the reservoir, or how much you have used of your allotted amount in your abstraction license. LiveFarmer records the crop monitor, then the farm manager will schedule the irrigation and update water usage. Knowing how much you needed, and how much you used, you can then calculate how much wastage there is.