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Case study
Cutting irrigation water use on a farm
A farm with drip irrigation and pivots, where the decision to irrigate followed the calendar rather than what the soil actually held.
A representative scenario, built from the problems we see most often in this kind of site. Exact figures vary from one installation to another.
Starting point
The farm has four drip sectors and two pivots, fed from a borehole and a reservoir. Irrigation followed a fixed calendar, adjusted by eye by the foreman.
Main problem
Irrigating by calendar wastes water on soil that is still moist and arrives too late on soil that has already dried out. With no measurement, there was no way to know which case applied to each sector.
Solution put in place
Moisture probes at three depths in every sector feed COA Campo, which shows soil status on a map and starts irrigation when moisture drops below the threshold set for each crop.
Key results
Over one full season with the system installed:
water applied per hectare
yield on the reference plot
for the investment to pay back
Day to day
What the team sees on screen
COA Campo — Mapa da exploraçãoFarm map, with each sector's moisture and the pivots irrigating.
Setor 1 — FichaA sector's record: moisture at three depths, flow and water applied that day.
Does this sound familiar?
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