In July, the Focus is on Smart Irrigation

It’s Smart Irrigation Month.

Sponsored by the Irrigation Association, Smart Irrigation Month is recognized as an annual initiative designed to raise awareness about the importance of efficient irrigation and the tools and practices that will help growers meet the world’s food, fuel and fiber needs.

“Precision irrigation is key to increasing efficiency,” said Reece Andrews, product manager for FieldNET and Irrigation Controls. “That’s why we are dedicated to innovating the irrigation management tools and solutions that will help growers make the most of every acre they farm.”

Andrews wrote an article for the July edition of Irrigation Today, which explains how controllers for center pivot and lateral systems are helping growers be more precise with water application. Controllers with variable rate irrigation, for example, help growers: 

• Increase yields by matching water application requirements based on different crops, varying terrain and soils types in the same field
• Reduce fertilizer input costs by minimizing runoff and nutrient leaching
• Use less water by minimizing over-irrigating in certain parts of the field
• Reduce wheel track maintenance

“At Lindsay, we’ve taken that technology to the next level. We also offer FieldNET Advisor™, a decision support tool that provides growers with field-specific irrigation scheduling recommendations,” Andrews said. “With FieldNET Advisor, growers no longer have to use the same plan throughout the season, because it provides continuously updated VRI prescriptions based on changing field conditions. It leverages high resolution soil water depletion data across the field to generate VRI prescriptions that are dynamically optimized in real time to apply the required amount of water across every zone in the field.” 

To read Andrews’ article, click here and turn to page 14. 

For more information about FieldNET technology, visit www.myfieldnet.com.