Agriculture Softwares/Farming Softwares/Farm Software

App to Save Water When Irrigating.

A new mobile app targeting the country's vegetable industry is forcing some growers to rethink their irrigation strategy.

A new mobile application focusing the country's vegetable industry and which is developed by Horticulture Innovation Australia and technology company The Yield. This app is forcing some vegetable growers to re-think on their irrigation strategy.

Using site-specific information from the Bureau of Meteorology, this mobile app gives an estimate of the crops' water use and soil moisture. This tool is most suited to brassicas, carrots, lettuce and leafy vegetables at this stage. The grower's group was trialled the app in Queensland and Tasmania. It was raising plenty of questions about evapotranspiration or dealing with water that escaped from a plant, said Rob Salmon, who is from vegetable seed company Bejo Seeds in Tasmania.

He said, "We need to better understand how much we can deficit irrigate." He also said that, growers recognised that even in a more reliable rainfall state like Tasmania, water was not a finite resource. So they were definitely looking at it as a way of saving water, maybe applying the right amount of water.

To include a function that estimates the level of evapotranspiration seven days in advance, developers are currently modifying the app.

Source : http://www.abc.net.au/