Irrigation scheduling has a significant impact on the yield and quality of irrigated cotton production and Australian growers have achieved yield gains of 30% through better irrigation management. In Australia, soil moisture monitoring using capacitance probes with remote telemetry is now a fundamental piece of irrigation management technology, however collecting data is only just the start. The key to making correct irrigation decisions is in accessing timely data that is easily understood and AgWISE® online data analysis software makes this easy. Agrilink has been responsible for introducing this type of technology in Australia and from 2007 it will be widely available to US growers as well.

Effective soil moisture monitoring involves having the right combination of multi-level soil moisture probe, reliable telemetry and effective decision support software. AgWISE® is an online software platform that has been specially designed to allow easy irrigation scheduling in a ‘live' environment that is available anywhere, anytime. Soil moisture is measured every 4 inches to a depth or 40” or 60” and relayed every 15 minutes to AgWISE® using cellular data transfer. Having such detailed data available in real-time, enables irrigators to watch plants ‘drinking' through the day and allows just the right amount of water to be applied to match plant water requirements. It is also possible to view the depth of infiltration and adjust the application rate to the root zone depth promoting more effective irrigation. The ability for the plant to tell us the exact amount of water to apply at exactly the right time, not only makes irrigating much easier, but has major yield and quality benefits as well.

The fact that AgWISE® works online, via a password protected site, means that data can be easily shared amongst the decision makers. It is a very effective management tool to enhance knowledge sharing between growers and their consultants, as well as for managing corporate farms, or large / diverse holdings. Irrigation templates can be developed over time to ensure that gains in irrigation efficiency and productivity can be repeated year after year.