Variable rate irrigation gives farmers the flexibility to grow different crops under the one irrigator. Here the
potatoes are getting irrigated while the wheat is left dry.
and unproductive areas.
Furthermore, as the Precision VRI system only delivers water when and where it’s programmed to
there is no wasted pumping costs. Calculations
show that 9 to 26% water savings equates to 27 – 77
kgCO2-eq/ha/yr energy savings.
Rather than farming to the limitations of an existing
irrigation system, several crops that require varying
amounts of water can be grown under the one irrigation system when variable rate irrigation is installed, giving you the ability to maximise the yields
of each crop. Fertiliser and chemicals can also be
efficiently applied exactly where they’re needed
with pinpoint accuracy with Precision VRI technology which can be a real saving compared to blanket applications.
Precision VRI solves common over-watering issues
inherent with many machine set-ups such as laterals, geo-laterals and part circles. For instance irrigation plans can be set up to ramp down application rates when approaching the reversing point for
a part circle or lateral and then ramp up again
when heading away from the barricade. The intelligent system can also detect when a geo-lateral
changes from lateral to pivot mode, altering the
sprinkler rates accordingly to even out the application.
Irrigation plans are created with FieldMAP, Precision
VRI’s custom mapping program. The software is
preloaded with applicable irrigator data, customised for each system, and ready to create irrigation
plans from. Water application can be optimised for
both the area irrigated and the water source, for
instance the maximum consented water volume or
flow rate. Field information relating to the irrigated
area can be defined by aerial photographs, electromagnetic survey maps, available water holding
capacity maps, crop parameters, infra-red image
maps, polygons exported from Google Eart h™ and
user-defined GPS information. User-defined GPS information often identifies avoidance areas such as
races/tracks, ponds, troughs, specific paddocks or
un-productive areas. As field information is constructed in “layers” many different types of field information may be considered when creating irrigation plans.
Within the map “management zones” are set from
the field information in which different application
rates are applied. As the Precision VRI system allows
individual control of every sprinkler along an irrigator there are no spatial or profile limitations to the
management zones.
Precision VRI irrigation plans can be either manually
imported into the Precision VRI controller or transmitted wirelessly. Once the plan is loaded onto the
VRI controller, it is ready to apply. The VRI controller
reads the plan and sends a message to wireless
nodes along the length of the pivot. Nodes control
each individual sprinkler to turn on or off, or pulsate
according to field position and desired application
rate. Each sprinkler is controlled by a magnetic
latching solenoid valve that’s built to last.