Sit back in your chair. Take a drink of your coffee and
take a look at the soil moisture level of your almond
orchard. Then pick up the data from your weather station.
No it's not too good to be true. Today's technology enables
farmers to gain important knowledge about their fields
right from their personal computer. Never before have
farmers had this kind of information that can be stored and
evaluated.
Aquaspy Inc. has been designing products that farmers can
use to really make a difference. They are a company that
believes that every drop of water that a farmer uses should
be backed by the intelligence of good decision-making. As
an agricultural consultant I can understand exactly what
they mean by that statement.
Good water management starts at the field level. A farmer
cannot accurately decide to irrigate a field without first
knowing the moisture level that is in the active root zone.
Find out how wet the soil profile is and then schedule your
irrigation based upon what the crop is telling you. Install
a soil moisture probe to see just how valuable they are to
your operation. The probes are sold in 20, 40 and 60inch
lengths. The 60inch length is usually the best choice for
permanent crops like trees and vines. The shorter lengths
are most often used in row crops and turf. Data loggers
are attached to each probe that can upload data to the
Internet by using a cell phone, which is designed into the
logger box. You can be miles away and see how dry your
field is. This technology really benefits growers that have
several fields in different locations. This data is updated
every few minutes. You can actually see what time an
irrigation started. Did your field man start the water when
you asked him to?
The best part about these soil moisture probes is the
software. All of your data is stored on your computer for
future reference. View the graph from last year to see
where you can improve. I always look to see if there is any
areas where we wasted water or got a little too dry.
Usually we try to keep it right on to maximize yield but
also save water. This software allows the user to add
management lines and colors to the graphs. Management lines
help you to set a low point or a high point acting as a
guide to the grower. The lines are saved and really help
year after year.
Irrigation scheduling of crops is a science that needs
constant precise inputs to make good decisions. Accurate
soil moisture and weather information for the grower and
consultant is a must.
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Ag Moisture Inc specializes in agricultural consulting and
soil moisture monitoring equipment.
http://www.agmoisture.com We are an authorized dealer for
Aquaspy soil moisture monitoring equipment and Metspy
weather stations. Let us show you the benefits of this new
technology.
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