Pajaro Valley CropManageWorkshop

Bringing CropManage to the Field

• Learn how to use CropManage to support irrigation and nutrient management decisions and record-keeping
• Learn the newest version of CropManage  – also available in Spanish

 CropManage is a free online decision support tool for water and nutrient management of coastal crops. Based on in-depth research and field studies conducted by the University of California, CropManage provides real-time recommendations for efficient irrigation and fertilization applications— while maintaining or improving overall yield.

With an over-drafted groundwater basin, and water quality regulations that are closely linked to nutrient management, efficiently using water and nitrogen fertilizer is a high priority for Pajaro Valley growers. At this free workshop, we will provide hands-on training so that you can learn to use the newest version of CropManage which has been updated to be more compatible for in-field use by farm staff.

CropManage is now available in Spanish. Spanish interpretation will be available at the workshop.

Central Coast Crops currently supported by CropManage include strawberry, head, romaine, leaf, and baby lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, cilantro, mizuna, bell peppers, raspberry, spinach, and tomato.   

Who should participate: Pajaro Valley vegetable and berry growers, ranch managers, other farm staff, and technical service providers are welcome. The workshop is for both new and current CropManage users.

What to bring: This is a participatory workshop. Please bring a tablet or laptop computer so that you can follow along and participate in the exercises. If you do not have an account for using CropManage, please set up a free account before the workshop at the website: cropmanage.ucanr.edu.

RSVP at: http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=28685 or valperez@ucanr.edu

Entrenamiento CropManage Valle de Pájaro

Llevando CropManage al Campo

• Aprenda a usar CropManage para informar y documentar sus decisiones de manejo de riego y nutrientes
• Conozca la nueva versión de CropManage  – también disponible en Español

CropManage es una herramienta en línea de acceso gratuito para el manejo de riego y nutrientes en cultivos costeros. Basándose en estudios de investigación realizados por  la Universidad de California, CropManage le ofrece recomendaciones oportunas (en tiempo real) para aplicar riego y fertilizantes de manera eficiente – y al mismo tiempo mantener o mejorar el rendimiento de su cultivo.

Dado que los acuíferos locales están todos sobre-explotados y existen regulaciones de calidad de agua estrechamente ligadas al manejo de nutrientes, hacer uso eficiente del agua y el nitrógeno es una alta prioridad para los agricultores del Valle de Pájaro. En este entrenamiento gratuito, ofreceramos instrucción práctica y detallada para que usted aprenda a usar la más reciente versión de CropManage, la cual ha sido mejorada para un uso más fácil por parte del personal en el campo. CropManage está ahora disponible en Español. El taller contará con traducción simultánea al español.

 CropManage puede informar el manejo de los siguientes cultivos: fresa, lechugas, brocoli, coliflor, repollo, apio, chile campana, espinaca, cilantro, y mizuna.  

 ¿Quien debe Participar? Productores de vegetales, fresa y mora en el Valle de Pajaro, gerentes y demas personal de rancho, proveedores de asistencia técnica.  El entrenamiento es para usuarios nuevos y antiguos del programa CropManage.

¿Que Traer? Este es un taller interactivo. Favor traer una tableta, computadora o teléfono inteligente para seguir las instrucciones y participar en los ejercicios.

Confirmar la asistencia: http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=28686 o valperez@ucanr.edu

CropManage Workshop: Hands-on training

Monterey County Agricultural Center Conference Room

 1432 Abbott St, Salinas CA 93901

Thursday, April 2nd 2015

(8:30 am – 12 pm)

We will offer a hands-on training to learn in depth about the features of CropManage, a free online decision support tool for water and nutrient management of coastal crops.  In addition to head and romaine lettuce, CropManage now supports broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and strawberries.

Considering that the drought is continuing into a 4th year, and nutrient management continues to be linked to water quality regulations, efficiently using water and nitrogen fertilizer is a high priority for Central Coast growers. CropManage can play an important role in providing quick decision support on water and nutrient management on a field-by-field basis.

This training will provide an opportunity to learn how to use CropManage for improving the efficiency of your farming operations or for adding value to your consulting services.  We will provide in depth hands-on training so that you can learn step-by-step how to navigate and use CropManage for assisting with fertilizer and water management decisions and record keeping. Wi-Fi internet access is available at our conference room so please bring a laptop or tablet computer so that you can follow along as we tour through the features of the software.   There should be sufficient time to answer questions as we cover the following topics: 

Agenda:

8:30 – 9:00 Registration and Refreshments

9:00 – 9:30 Introduction and update on CropManage

9:30-10:15 Getting started with CropManage

10:15  (Break)

10:30 – 11:15 Strategies for using CropManage for decision support and record keeping

11:15- 11:45 Advanced features and interfacing sensors with CropManage

11:45-12:00  Discussion of new features or changes needed.

To keep the group size manageable so that we can provide individual help, we would like to limit the workshop to 30 participants.  If you have attended previous workshops and or feel proficient in using the on-line tool, then you are welcome to just attend the second half of the workshop (10:30-12 pm).  Whether or not you plan to attend the entire or part of the workshop, please RSVP in advance by sending an email to larriaga@ucdavis.edu or mdcahn@ucdavis.edu with the subject heading “CropManage workshop” and let us know the number of participants in your group.  We will email you a confirmation. Thank you, and I hope to see you soon.

Respectfully,

Michael Cahn, Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor

Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties

Certified Crop Adviser CEU hours requested (1.5 hrs irrigation management, 1.5 hrs nutrient management)

Irrigations can be tracked for each planting by entering new watering events into the “Irrigation Summary” table (Fig. 1).  In addition to keeping records on when and how much water was applied, CropManage will recommend an amount of water to apply and an optimum interval between irrigations using reference evapotranspiration data from CIMIS (California Irrigation Management Information System), crop development models, and information about the soil type of the field and irrigation system.  CIMIS is operated by the California Department of Water Resources.

To add a new irrigation event, select the “new watering” button located below and to the left side of the irrigation summary table (Fig. 1) or select “New” and then “New Watering” from the “Quick View” screen (Fig 2).

Figure 1. Enter new irrigation events by selecting “New Irrigation” below the irrigation summary table.

Figure 2. New irrigation events can be entered from the quick view screen by selecting “New” and  “New Watering.”

An entry form will display for adding a new irrigation event (Fig 3).  Enter the intended date of the irrigation. The previous irrigation event will be displayed on the right side of the form.  CropManage uses the days between the last irrigation or significant rainfall event and the next planned irrigation to estimate the water needs of the crop. 

Next, select the method of irrigating.  The choices are "Germination Sprinkler", "Sprinkler", "Drip", and "Rainfall."  The irrigation method is used for estimating crop evapotranspiration and determining an appropriate amount of water to apply to compensate for non-uniformity of the irrigation system.  Evaporative losses of moisture from the soil surface are normally greater under sprinklers than drip irrigation, and the application uniformity is usually higher under drip than sprinklers.  The uniformity of the irrigation system must be entered when setting up the planting.  

"Germination Sprinkler" is distinguished from "Sprinklers" because the method of irrigating with sprinklers during germination is sometimes different than when the crop is established.  This distinction allow the user to set different levels of uniformity or application rate for sprinklers used in the germination and the establishment phase of the crop.  

Significant rainfall events (more than 0.25 inches) recorded at the CIMIS station associated with the ranch, are automatically entered into the irrigation summary table if no other irrigation events were added for the same day.   For cases where significant rainfall is recorded near the planting but not measured by the CIMIS station, one can manually enter the rainfall event by selecting “Rainfall."  

Figure 3. Form for entering new irrigation events for a planting.

After saving the new watering, the form will update with a recommended amount and time to irrigate, and display a space to enter the amount of water that was applied (Fig. 4).   One can save the form without entering the applied water amount, and after irrigating, enter the amount of water applied.  Also, one can enter the amount of water intended to be applied and reenter the value after the irrigation is completed.  The amount of applied water can be entered as depth of water applied over the area of the field in units of “inches”, or as time (hours) irrigated, which is converted to inches of water applied using the application rate of the irrigation system.   If rainfall was selected, then enter the rainfall depth in units of “inches.”

Figure 4. Irrigation form updates with recommended water amount after entering the irrigation date and saving.

After selecting “Save Watering” the table will be updated with the new irrigation event (Fig. 5).  The table displays the recommended irrigation interval, amount of water to apply, and hours to irrigate (Fig. 5).  The next column to the right displays the amount of water that was applied.  Note that no entry was made for the last watering on 9/18 since the irrigation had not occurred yet.   The user can add this information later, or change or delete the irrigation event.  The next columns display the estimated crop coefficient (Kc) used to convert reference ET to crop ET, and the estimated canopy cover of the crop, used for modeling the Kc values.  The last 2 columns on the right display the average daily reference ET and total crop ET since the last irrigation event (Fig. 5).        

Figure 5. The irrigation summary table displays recommended irrigation interval, water amount, and hours to irrigate as well as crop coefficient and reference ET values used for the recommendation.

Figure 6. Selecting “next columns” will also display precipitation and other data used for estimating the water needs of the crop. 

Selecting the “Show Next Columns” button above the table to the right side, will display cumulative reference evapotranspiration (ETo), cumulative crop evapotranspiration, precipitation, and other data used for estimating the crop water needs.  Selecting the “Show Next Columns” button again will display information of the estimated root depth of the crop, allowable soil moisture depletion, and flow meter data if one is used to measure applied water.  

One can customize the column order of the table by clicking on a column heading with the mouse curser and dragging the heading to a new location on the table (Fig. 7).  Clicking on previous order button will rearrange the columns to the original order.  Additionally, one can temporarily hide specific columns from the table by clicking on the “Show/Hide columns” button.

Figure 7. The order of the columns can be changed by dragging the column heading to a new location.