How to save 25% of the water used in agriculture

25/09/2015

According to information from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, only 8% of the water supplied in the world is destined for domestic use, while agricultural activity consumes 70%.

When water in any region is no longer sufficient, it is necessary to look for ways to make better use of the existing resource. Such is the case of California, a state that for a couple of years has experienced a period of extreme drought that affects all the activities of the inhabitants.

As part of the measures taken to reduce the excessive consumption of water, an innovation in irrigation systems was used that manages to save up to an 25% of liquid; important amount for the expenditure that represents the agricultural industry.

This is CropX, an intelligent irrigation system developed by a team of researchers from New Zealand and Israel that complements the traditional irrigation technique, with technology in a mobile application.

The land is not uniform, and the same field may require different amounts of irrigation. This system has a set of sensors controlled by an intelligent application that detects the needs of water according to the characteristics of the land by zones.

This technology allows to provide the exact water that each zone requires, because in one area there may be sand and in another mud, there are also slopes and inclination in the surface that make the amount necessary.

The system controlled by the farmer has the ability to monitor a field of 125 acres using only three or four sensors. Each field is analyzed with the use of data algorithms to determine the amount of water ejected.

"The software calculates the best position for each sensor to accurately create an irrigation map of the entire field."Said Isaac Bentwich, director of CropX. water-irrigation-1-300x169 "A recent USDA survey showed that the 90% of farmers in the United States currently do not use any tools to optimize their irrigation system. Any water saving translates directly into a significant increase in crop yield."

This is an excellent option for California farmers because it is economically accessible and the system can be paid once water and energy savings are demonstrated by contributing to the shortage problem.

Source: Expoknews.com