National Cotton Council of America
Beltwide Cotton Conferences
January 8-11, 2008
Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center
Nashville, Tennessee
The Cotton Foundation

Recorded Presentations

Thursday, January 10, 2008 - 10:40 AM

Making Irrigation More Profitable using AquaSpy for Irrigation Scheduling

David Sloane, Agrilink Holdings Pty Ltd, 16 Phillips Street, Thebarton, Australia

Water is the centre of any irrigation enterprise, yet surprisingly few irrigators use it to maximum effect.  There are many methods for trying to estimate plant water usage such as evapotranspiration models, evaporation pans, etc and these can have a positive effect.  However there is no substitute for measuring plant water use as growers are able to respond to the plant directly, which takes into account things other than the weather that affect plant growth.  The ability to do this over the entire root zone, remotely and in real time, means that growers can now be in total control over when to irrigate and how much to apply.  Growers can also check on the effectiveness of irrigation or rainfall and adjust decisions accordingly to stay on track no matter what the season brings.  The brand new AquaSpy range of soil moisture probes and telemetry options provide a variety of integrated monitoring options from low cost loggers through to radio and cellular solutions, or combinations of them all.  The probes are plug-and-play and the equipment is simple and upgradeable.  The AquaSpy software is deisgned to make irrigation scheduling easy so that irrigators can ensure correct irrigation timing and application to maximise yield, quality and profit.