The Wonder of Wireless Watering
If you're a regular reader of this column, you've probably figured out, from various references I've made, that I'm no teeny-bopper. (Let's put it this way: I'm old enough to have a good answer to the question, "Where were you when you heard that President Kennedy had been killed?"). Here's another clue that I am older than, say, Paris Hilton: I'm "technologically challenged."
Yes, I do have a cell phone! But I've never sent a text message; I've never even owned a Walkman, let alone an iPod; and to me, "Bluetooth" sounds like one of Ellie May's hound dogs on "The Beverly Hillbillies."
But I do appreciate the wonders of wireless technology, which does everything from allowing my doctor to take notes on a tiny laptop computer during my annual physical, to making it possible for farmers to use not one drop of water more than is necessary to quench their crops' thirst and keep food on our tables.
Haven't yet heard of wireless watering? That's the latest irrigation technology from the scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). They contend that water is going to be the prevailing natural resource issue of the 21st century, especially when you take into account global climate change and the push to grow crops for energy, so they're focused on finding ways to irrigate crops more efficiently.
You probably already realize that it takes a lot of water to keep us all fed, but even so, the magnitude of water use may surprise you. Worldwide, irrigation is the largest single consumer of fresh water, requiring up to 60 percent of this resource, according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey. The bulk of that consumption occurs on farms that grow food, feed, fiber and fuel crops.
In the U.S., 60 percent of the market value of all agricultural production occurs on irrigated lands, but those lands represent only about 18 percent of the total cropland in cultivation.
Knowing where our water is going, and how it's being used, is critical — and not just because we need to save water wherever we can, but because excessive watering can cause problems such as leaching excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers into our underground water supplies.
How would wireless watering work? First, we have to remember that every inch of a field isn't identical. Because of differences in soil types, subsurface conditions, topography, drainage issues and disease problems, a field that may look all the same on the top is actually a patchwork of little plots, each with its own set of characteristics and problems.
A starting point for this kind of sophisticated watering system is knowing what soils are in the field, and that means making a soil map. The ARS scientists say this helps them know how many sensors will need to be installed in the field to monitor on-the-ground conditions.
Once the sensors are installed, here's how the system works: While the sensors monitor factors like moisture and temperature in the soil, a weather station mounted on an irrigation cart monitors weather conditions in the field. Every 10 seconds, the field sensors take moisture and temperature measurements; every 15 minutes, those measurements are transmitted wirelessly to a base-station computer.
That computer processes the information and determines whether and how much to irrigate, based on the precise location of the irrigation cart in the field. The base station communicates with the mobile irrigation cart and also with the grower (via his laptop computer, desktop computer or yes, Bluetooth), who has ultimate control over what the base station orders.
Wireless is wonderful for this type of system, because field conditions are likely to change over time, and that means the sensors assigned to various sections of farmland will need to be moved. Since the sensors are part of a wireless system, there are no buried cords to be dug up and moved.
Once upon a time, agricultural productivity was described in terms of how much could be extracted from a unit of land. But in the future, the focus is more likely to be on how much productivity we can get from every unit of water.
"Everybody's
Science" is written by Sandy Miller Hays, Director of Information for
the Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hays is a native of Fort Smith,
Ark. From the late 1970s until early 1988, Hays was a reporter, editor
and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette),
a Little Rock-based daily newspaper. She joined the ARS Information
Staff in 1988, and became Director of Information in April 1998.
If you're a regular reader of this column, you've probably figured out, from various references I've made, that I'm no teeny-bopper. (Let's put it this way: I'm old enough to have a good answer to the question, "Where were you when you heard that President Kennedy had been killed?"). Here's another clue that I am older than, say, Paris Hilton: I'm "technologically challenged."
Yes, I do have a cell phone! But I've never sent a text message; I've never even owned a Walkman, let alone an iPod; and to me, "Bluetooth" sounds like one of Ellie May's hound dogs on "The Beverly Hillbillies."
Protecting the nation’s soil, water, and air resources is a key part of ARS’s mission. Since, globally, irrigation for growing food is one of the biggest users of fresh water, ARS scientists are developing high-tech farming systems that will conserve both water and fertilizer. (Photo by Jack Dykinga)
Haven't yet heard of wireless watering? That's the latest irrigation technology from the scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). They contend that water is going to be the prevailing natural resource issue of the 21st century, especially when you take into account global climate change and the push to grow crops for energy, so they're focused on finding ways to irrigate crops more efficiently.
You probably already realize that it takes a lot of water to keep us all fed, but even so, the magnitude of water use may surprise you. Worldwide, irrigation is the largest single consumer of fresh water, requiring up to 60 percent of this resource, according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey. The bulk of that consumption occurs on farms that grow food, feed, fiber and fuel crops.
In the U.S., 60 percent of the market value of all agricultural production occurs on irrigated lands, but those lands represent only about 18 percent of the total cropland in cultivation.
Knowing where our water is going, and how it's being used, is critical — and not just because we need to save water wherever we can, but because excessive watering can cause problems such as leaching excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers into our underground water supplies.
How would wireless watering work? First, we have to remember that every inch of a field isn't identical. Because of differences in soil types, subsurface conditions, topography, drainage issues and disease problems, a field that may look all the same on the top is actually a patchwork of little plots, each with its own set of characteristics and problems.
A starting point for this kind of sophisticated watering system is knowing what soils are in the field, and that means making a soil map. The ARS scientists say this helps them know how many sensors will need to be installed in the field to monitor on-the-ground conditions.
Once the sensors are installed, here's how the system works: While the sensors monitor factors like moisture and temperature in the soil, a weather station mounted on an irrigation cart monitors weather conditions in the field. Every 10 seconds, the field sensors take moisture and temperature measurements; every 15 minutes, those measurements are transmitted wirelessly to a base-station computer.
That computer processes the information and determines whether and how much to irrigate, based on the precise location of the irrigation cart in the field. The base station communicates with the mobile irrigation cart and also with the grower (via his laptop computer, desktop computer or yes, Bluetooth), who has ultimate control over what the base station orders.
Wireless is wonderful for this type of system, because field conditions are likely to change over time, and that means the sensors assigned to various sections of farmland will need to be moved. Since the sensors are part of a wireless system, there are no buried cords to be dug up and moved.
Once upon a time, agricultural productivity was described in terms of how much could be extracted from a unit of land. But in the future, the focus is more likely to be on how much productivity we can get from every unit of water.
The Agricultural Research Service is the chief in-house scientific
research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You can read
more about ARS discoveries at http://www.ars.usda.gov/news/.
About the author
"Everybody's
Science" is written by Sandy Miller Hays, Director of Information for
the Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hays is a native of Fort Smith,
Ark. From the late 1970s until early 1988, Hays was a reporter, editor
and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette),
a Little Rock-based daily newspaper. She joined the ARS Information
Staff in 1988, and became Director of Information in April 1998.