Randy Wood, president of the Irrigation Association
The past few years has seen numerous challenges throughout the irrigation industry, including the pandemic as well as ongoing drought in many parts of the U.S. How has the Irrigation Association (IA) helped its members meet these challenges?While the entire world has experienced disruptions caused by COVID-19, and irrigation was not immune to those, our industry did see some tremendous opportunities, particularly as people invested more in outdoor spaces. In today’s global economy, we in the irrigation industry continue to experience supply chain issues and labour availability, not to mention continued challenges related to drought. The past several years have taught us how interconnected our economies are throughout the world, and the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict demonstrated how critical food-security concerns are. Our industry has a vital role in global food security, which can drive growth in the irrigation industry’s international markets, all while highlighting the importance and value of the work of those in our industry. The IA is focused on helping our members provide solutions to these and other challenges.
How would you describe the current state of the irrigation market, both in the U.S.and abroad?As we begin a new year, the state of the farm economy, uncertainty in key global markets for U.S. ag exports like Mexico and China, and drought in many parts of the United States all represent challenges for farmers and related industries. Changes in the U.S. Congress following midterm elections in late 2022 could add to those challenges.
Our industry depends on a strong and vibrant agricultural sector. While crop and livestock receipts were high in 2022, expenses also soared on higher input costs. According to a report in September 2022 from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, commodity prices and cash receipts are projected to be lower in 2023. While prices for inputs such as fuel and fertilizer are also projected to decrease, those decreases will be offset by expected increases elsewhere. The end result is likely to be slightly lower net farm income in the year ahead. In addition, large portions of the United States are currently experiencing drought conditions, with particular areas in the west facing the prospect of dire water shortages in the coming year.
Are there any stand-out technologies that you see on the horizon that could be ready for wider adoption by the industry?Irrigation manufacturers are continually working to make irrigation more precise, which in turn, increases water-use efficiency.
Through the use of technology, such as sensors, satellite data, the Internet of Things, automation and emerging applications of predictive and artificial intelligence and nanotechnolgy, irrigation is leading the way with integrating technology into our products and practices to create a greater level of efficiency —as well as adoption.
The IA was once again able to hold its annual Irrigation Show and Education Week this past December, co-located with the National Ground Water Association. How did this partnership evolve, and how did that benefit your members?The IA has enjoyed a collaboration with the National Ground Water Association for a number of years. In the past, the Irrigation Show has co-located with the Groundwater Week show in Las Vegas approximately every three years. Our two organizations complement each other, and sharing the exhibit hall is a great way to draw attendees interested in attending both events, which offer a chance to meet leading companies in irrigation and water use, while gaining essential insights and education that helps us elevate awareness of the essential role that irrigation places in water use and management.
Overall, what are the main issues facing the irrigation industry today?Our industry is committed to offering solutions to some of the most critical challenges facing society by providing tools to address global food security and promoting the value of every drop of water used in thriving, healthy communities. As drought and water availability continue to impact large areas of the U.S. and throughout the globe, this is even more important today. In addition, our industry is faced with ensuring that growers, consumers and policymakers better understand the role that irrigation and professional irrigators have as stewards of sustainable water resources.
As an association, it is important that we focus our efforts on
advocacy and education, and effectively demonstrate how the adoption of efficient technologies, products and services helps ensure water is available for irrigation for future generations. As an industry, our story will need to be strong and consistent, elevating what we do and effectively relaying the importance of good irrigation practices and strong industry training. And our communities and elected and policy officials need to understand the broader societal contributions of irrigated farmland and landscapes.
How is the IA working to address those issues?The IA is engaging with policy decision-makers to ensure increased adoption of water-efficient technologies, products and practices, as well as the services provided by our industry professionals. We are focused on helping them better understand and recognize the important environmental, economic and social benefits of irrigated farmland — including food security, economic development, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, heat reduction, water retention and dust control — and ensuring the IA has a seat at the table for where these decisions are made. We’re also improving and expanding our education and training to equip our industry to address the challenges of today and tomorrow.
What are the main goals for the IA for 2023?As the IA looks ahead, we are committed to advancing the industry by elevating the value of irrigated water and the critical role of irrigation in sustainability, cultivating an expert and professional workforce of irrigation professionals, and ensuring a thriving and growing industry that serves as stewards who offer solutions that contribute to the sustainability of our nation’s water resources. We are especially focused on addressing those industry priorities through the next farm bill, which the U.S. Congress will begin crafting this year. ●
Our industry is committed to offering solutions to some of the most critical challenges facing society…
Capsicums are grown in Israel with 1800 mg/L TDS on sandy soil using appropriate irrigation management.
Western Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has commenced trials using marginally saline water on tomato, capsicum and rockmelon crops at its South Perth research facility.
Soil salinity measuring equipment will also be installed on growers’ properties in the southwest to monitor the impact of salt on crop performance.
DPIRD research scientist Lukasz Kotula said a significant amount of moderate quality groundwater of between 1000 and 3000 milligrams per litre total dissolved solids (TDS) could potentially be available to horticulture production.
“It is estimated that there is conservatively more than 70GL of moderate quality groundwater in WA,” Kotula said. “While much of the better-quality water in the Swan Coastal Plain is already allocated to irrigators and other water users, there are large volumes of marginally saline water that is not being used for irrigation.
In many other countries in the world, water of above 1000 mg/L TDS is successfully used to irrigate crops. “Our research project will provide valuable information on what quality marginally saline water could be used for different crops and management strategies, taking into account local climate, rainfall, soil type, drainage and leaching considerations,” noted Kotula.
Crops differ in the tolerance to salinity, with tomatoes grown successfully in arid areas of China using water of about 3000 mg/L TDS and capsicums are grown in Israel with 1800 mg/L TDS on sandy soil using appropriate irrigation management.
The southwest’s sandy soils and significant winter rainfall – where accumulated salt leaches more readily than on heavier soils in dry climates – have advantages for irrigation with marginally saline water, when suitable strategies are employed. Kotula said the research project would examine the optimal irrigation type and frequency, soil moisture levels, mulch to reduce evaporation, time of year and crop growth stage for saline water use in the southwest.
“Applying additional water to leach salt from the crops root zone is the major approach used to deal with irrigation using marginally saline water,” he said. “It is very important to not let the soil dry out, as salt will concentrate in the root zone causing plant damage. Irrigation by drip, where the foliage is not wet, allows for irrigation with higher levels of saline water than overhead irrigation, where the leaves get wet and foliar salt burn occurs. The chemical composition of the irrigation water, particularly the chloride and sodium content, will also be a significant factor in determining plant growth and not just the total dissolved solids.”
Kotula added the research findings would assist existing irrigators to manage the challenge of increasingly saline water. “The salinity of some groundwater and surface water resources in the southwest is increasing with climate change,” he said. “This research will help to create management options for growers to help optimize production in a drying climate.” ●
DPIRD research scientist Dr. Lukasz Kotula with soil moistureand salinity monitoring equipment used in a research trial at the department’s South Perth facility to identify the potential use ofmarginally saline water in horticulture production.
Irrigation by drip ... allows for irrigation with higher levels of saline water than overhead irrigation…
Smart electronic soil sensors could enable farmers to deliver tailored doses of water to their crops, maximizing food production while saving water.
Researchers with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a rapid and sensitive soil moisture sensor, at the heart of which sits a metal-organic framework (MOF) with a very high affinity for water.
“Irrigation management can help improve crop quality, decrease agricultural costs and preserve water,” said Mohamed Eddaoudi, who led the research along with Khaled Salama, who added that “highly sensitive and selective soil-moisture sensors offer the potential to improve the water management process.”
MOFs may be well suited to soil moisture sensing, Eddaoudi and his collaborators have shown. MOFs are highly porous synthetic materials with a cage-like internal structure that can be tailored to host specific small molecules, including water.
“With their modular porous structure and easy functionalization, MOFs are excellent candidates for sensing applications,” said Osama Shekhah, a research scientist on Eddaoudi’s team. “MOF thin films have already been incorporated into electronic devices, paving the way for their translation to real-world use.”
The MOFs in the study were selected based on their hydrolytic stability, water capacity and water uptake. “We explored several different MOFs, including the highly porous Cr-soc-MOF-1 developed by our group at KAUST that can capture twice its own weight in water,” said Ph.D. student Norah Alsadun.
The team coated the MOFs onto an inexpensive interdigitated electrode microsensor that can be fabricated by inkjet printing or laser etching. When this sensor was inserted into moist soil, air in the MOF was displaced by water, altering its electrical capacitance, a process that can be detected and measured.
Each MOF device was tested in clayey and in loamy sand soil types, which can show significant differences in texture and water-holding capacity. “Notably, the Cr-soc-MOF-1-coated soil-moisture sensor showed the highest sensitivity, of about 450 percent in clayey soil, with a response time of around 500 seconds,” said Salama. The sensor’s response was highly selective for water even when various metal ions were present in the soil.
“We are now designing and developing a portable prototype MOF-based soil moisture sensor that can be easily used for control experiments in real-world, in-field measurements,” noted Eddaoudi. ●
Irrigation management in agriculture is one of the most effective tools to protect precious water resources, especially in arid and desert regions of the globe.
Photo: © 2023 KAUST; Morgan Bennett Smith
In late January, Kenya launched a National Irrigation Services Strategy, which is aimed at actualizing the aspirations of the country’s National Irrigation Policy.
The National Irrigation Services Strategy identifies the key constraints to irrigation development and management, while also defining strategic interventions to address them. The key interventions include expanding irrigation infrastructure; irrigation water resource development; technical and institutional capacity development; and strengthening the provision of irrigation support services and infrastructure.
The National Irrigation Services Strategy also outlines investment opportunities in the irrigation sector. It is envisaged that implementation of the strategy will confer benefits on the country including an increase in agricultural production; creation of job opportunities; foreign exchange earnings and saving; and economic growth in rural areas.
Implementation of the proposed interventions is estimated to cost KES 389 billion over the period 2022 to 2026. This amount includes the cost of irrigation infrastructure development, construction of water harvesting and storage structures, sector capacity development, targeted support programs and irrigation information management. ●
The UK’s Aston University has teamed up with the University of Nairobi and engineering company Solargen Technologies (SGT) through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) to develop a smart irrigation system using solar and wind energy to provide year-round watering of land to improve crop production in Kenya.
Kenya's economy is agriculture-based, but over 80 percent of its land is dry. Farmers cannot depend on rain-fed agriculture due to unpredictable rainfall and frequent drought, therefore an irrigation system is required. SGT’s current irrigation system is solar powered and requires large batteries and manned operation to maintain efficiency, resulting in high operating and maintenance costs and issues with performance during cloudy days.
This KTP (a three-way collaboration between a business, an academic partner and a researcher) will use a hybrid source of solar and wind energy to power ‘smart sensors’ and ‘control systems' to automatically deliver the right amount of water for a given crop type and maintain the required soil moisture level.
The Aston University team will be led by Dr. Muhammed Imran, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering and an established researcher in the area of renewable energy systems, especially hybrid energy systems. He will be supported by Dr. Tabbi Wilberforce Awotwe, lecturer in mechanical engineering and design and an established researcher in the area of sustainable energy systems and optimization approaches.
They are collaborating with Professor Ayub Gitau and Dr. George Kamucha from the University of Nairobi. Professor Gitau is an associate professor and dean for the school of engineering and a professional agricultural engineer. Dr. Kamucha is a senior lecturer and chairman for the department of electrical and information engineering who has extensive experience in advance control systems as well as advance model predictive control systems.
SGT is an energy, water and irrigation solution and service provider in Kenya. They work in partnership with non-governmental entities, government and individuals to serve communities in rural and conflict-affected parts of Eastern Africa through customized solutions that meet their energy, water and food security needs.
“The project will bring together Aston University’s expertise in hybrid energy, the University of Nairobi’s expertise in irrigation systems and our expertise in system integration and solar energy to develop a market leading irrigation system with increased reliability and low operating and maintenance costs,” said Badr Shariff, managing director at Solargen Technologies. ●
Arabica coffee bushes in a commercial plantation near to Nairobi Kenya
Valmont Industries, Inc. has entered into a supply agreement to provide mechanized irrigation equipment and innovative technology for multiple agricultural development projects in Africa.
According to the company, the agreement will harness the solutions of Valley Irrigation, a Valmont company, to help meet global demand for more efficient and reliable food production, and support national investments in agriculture to feed growing populations and address ongoing food security concerns.
According to Josh Dixon, Valley Irrigation president, the new engagement is a testament to the company’s technology leadership and ability to secure large-scale projects that address the need by many countries to increase food production while decreasing dependence on grain imports. “Our successful execution of several projects within the region has demonstrated the value of our technologically-advanced irrigation products and dealer network, giving customers confidence in our ability to consistently deliver results,” noted Dixon. “This supply agreement validates the continuing strength of our international project pipeline.”
With remote monitoring and controls, the project – which will become one of the largest installations of connected pivots – will maximize crop yields and minimize inputs, while conserving approximately half the water used by traditional irrigation methods. Project shipments are expected to begin in second quarter of 2023.
“Large-scale international projects continue to advance our market growth strategy as we serve the many countries looking to maximize the value of their land through agriculture development,” said Dixon. “We work together with the customer to find the best solution for their needs, while minimizing inputs such as labor and scarce fresh water.” ●
