What is precision agriculture irrigation?

• Posted by Binda BindaJD July 15, 2021 Filed in Technology #soil moisture sensor  #agriculture irrigation  #weather station  157 views
  click to rate

  We all know that crops require different amounts of water at different stages of development. Traditional farming methods rely on empirical judgments and manual watering of the ground by manpower, which not only wastes water resources, but also takes up labor. Now, we only need to look at the screen to know whether the crop needs to "drink water" and fertilize it. Tap the remote control device lightly with your finger, and water can be transported to the planting area through various pipe networks scattered throughout the field, so as to "feed and drink" the plants in different ways. In this way, water can be irrigated according to demand and water resources can be saved. This is the basic operation of smart irrigation.

  

  
  What is precision agriculture irrigation management?

  
  In accordance with the needs of the crop growth process, precision agricultural irrigation management realizes digital, networked, visualized, and intelligent monitoring of the growth and development status of crops and the status quo of environmental factors through modern monitoring methods. The monitoring content includes soil moisture, crop growth and development status, meteorological conditions, etc., monitoring and forecasting from macro to micro. According to the monitoring results, combined with the law of crop water demand, the most accurate irrigation facilities (such as drip irrigation, micro-sprinkler irrigation, etc.) are used to strictly monitor the crops. Effective irrigation to ensure the needs of crops during the growth process, so as to obtain high-yield, high-quality crops.
  Take apples as an example. Apple trees are trees that require a lot of water, and soil moisture content directly affects the yield and quality of apples. Using the orchard precision irrigation system based on the Internet of Things and an expert system, it automatically collects environmental information such as temperature, humidity, and light intensity in the apple orchard, and uploads the data packets to the cloud server through the network. The expert system realizes it based on the collected environmental data and decision-making mathematical models. Water demand forecast, combined with meteorological data to make irrigation decisions and feedback the decision results to the irrigation control module. In addition, the irrigation threshold can also be adjusted and set according to the different growth periods of the apple tree. If the soil moisture content is lower than the lower threshold, irrigation will be carried out, and the irrigation will be stopped if the soil moisture content is higher than the upper threshold.

  
  At present, the application scope of precision irrigation management technology has covered fruits, vegetables, melons, grains, flowers and other crops.

  
  Why do we need precise irrigation?

  
  First of all, precision irrigation can guarantee the water supply at the time and place required by the crops, achieve regular and quantitative replenishment, and provide a good growth environment for the crops, so as to increase and improve the yield and quality of the crops.

  
  Secondly, precision irrigation management can save and protect water resources. Precision irrigation only provides the water needed for crop growth, minimizing the loss of irrigation water caused by soil evaporation, deep seepage and surface runoff, and greatly avoiding the waste of water resources. At the same time, it also minimizes the pollution of groundwater resources caused by the leakage of pesticides and fertilizers caused by deep seepage and surface runoff, and rationally protects water resources and the ecological environment.

  

  
  Finally, precision irrigation management adopts advanced soil, crop and meteorological information monitoring and forecasting, and can control or allocate water sources according to the law of crop water demand, so as to meet the needs of crops for water to the greatest extent, and achieve the best water regulation and management of regional benefits. Realize agricultural water-saving irrigation in the true sense. Practice has proved that a well-designed and scientifically managed precision irrigation system will bring considerable economic benefits.

  
  Good helpers for precision irrigation of farmland

  
  In the field of precision irrigation, geographic information systems, positioning systems, remote sensing monitoring technology and field precision irrigation facilities are often used to achieve automation and intelligent management.

  Geographic information system can provide basic data query and auxiliary decision-making for crop precision irrigation management. It is a computer software platform for geospatial attribute data. If we plan to grow corn on a piece of land, we can use geographic information systems to analyze the texture of the land, whether it is nutritious, and even know the meteorological information, crop seedling conditions, past pest and disease trends of the land over the years.

  Don't mention the positioning system and only think of travel. In fact, it is extremely important in the process of agricultural implementation. On the one hand, the positioning system can accurately locate all kinds of farmland information and input it into the geographic information system. On the other hand, it can also direct agricultural machinery to walk and implement agricultural production in the space defined by the user.

  

  
  Remote sensing technology will also give play to the advantages of information collection and dynamic monitoring in precision irrigation. We all know that agriculture is "seeing the sky and eating". "Heaven" refers to climatic conditions, soil conditions, and growth environment. In the past, agricultural production could only be judged by the human eye, but the emergence of remote sensing technology replaced the human eye. Using a variety of real-time collection devices, remote sensing technology can "see" various information such as weather station, soil moisture, soil fertility , diseases and insect pests, and crop seedling conditions. This will use agricultural weather stations, soil moisture sensors, soil analyzers, insect conditions, etc. to monitor in real time, and formulate precise agricultural irrigation through a series of data.

  
  With all kinds of data, we also need to send water to the field. At this time, we need to use irrigation equipment, such as drip irrigation, infiltration irrigation, micro-sprinkler irrigation, pulse irrigation, etc., all of which are connected to the field. The irrigation pipe is used to directly supply water to the roots of the plants. The difference lies in the way the water flows out. The user only needs to install a suitable irrigator and an irrigation pipe of appropriate density according to the different needs of crop growth.

  
  Precision irrigation uses various technologies to determine the information related to the growth of crops, and on this basis, determine whether irrigation is needed and the amount of water that needs to be irrigated, so as to further improve the use efficiency of water resources, improve crop quality, and achieve agricultural water saving .