Posts Tagged: Irrigation

AI and sustainable farming focus of May 7 workshop with UC, partners

On May 7, scientists from University of California, Riverside, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, Colorado State University Extension, Kansas State University, University of Arizona, Central Arizona Project, and USDA-Agricultural Research Service will gather with growers in Palm Desert to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used in agriculture.

“Artificial intelligence can be used by farmers to save water, improve fertilizer efficiency and increase productivity,” said Khaled Bali, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation water management specialist and organizer of the workshop. “At this workshop, growers will hear about the latest research on AI technology for agriculture and about the experiences of growers who are already testing it in their fields.”

Speakers and topics will include:

• Raj Khosla, Kansas State University - AI for precision nitrogen and water management in row crops
• Michael Cahn, UC Cooperative Extension - CropManage decision support tool for irrigation and nutrient management
• Daniele Zaccaria, UC Cooperative Extension - Citrus crop water use and open ET in the low desert of California
• Nan Li, UC Riverside - Estimating soil moisture using remote-sensing and land surface parameters in the Central Valley of California.
• Ali Montazar, UC Cooperative Extension - Promises and pitfalls of drip irrigation in desert cropping systems
• Khaled Bali, UC Cooperative Extension - Deficit irrigation strategies for alfalfa in California
• Philip Waisen, UC Cooperative Extension - Environmentally conscious practices for managing soilborne diseases in low desert vegetable production
• Peter Moller, Rubicon Water - On-farm water conservation projects: surface irrigation
• Ronnie Leimgruber, Imperial Valley grower - On-farm water conservation projects: linear move, basin and subsurface drip irrigation
• Rick Benson, Imperial Valley grower - Alternative cropping systems for the low desert region of California: olives and other crops

The workshop will be held at the UCR Palm Desert Center at 75080 Frank Sinatra Drive in Palm Desertfrom 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 7. It costs $30 per person and includes lunch. Register at https://bit.ly/AImay7.

 

Calculating Irrigation with CIMIS

Avocado Irrigation Calculator using CIMIS

(California Irrigation Management Information System)

Updated March 13, 2024

Gary S. Bender

Farm Advisor Emeritus – Subtropical Horticulture

UC Cooperative Extension – San Diego County

 

The irrigation requirement can be calculated each week by using CIMIS (California Irrigation Management Information System). CIMIS is a network of weather stations throughout California that takes daily information on evapotranspiration (ETo) of eight-inch tall grass and sends this ETo to a computer in Sacramento. ETo is basically the amount of water lost each day from this grass; it is calculated in inches of water.   You can download this information when you want to irrigate your avocados and put it into an “irrigation calculator”. This information will be multiplied by the crop coefficient developed for avocados by UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and specialists . This will give you the amount of water lost each day by avocados through transpiration and evaporation from the soil surface. Then, assuming the weather doesn't change, you can replace that amount of water when you irrigate.

 

Follow the Attached Files "CMIS exercise" link below to see how it's done.

 

irrigation with double lines

CropManage Hands-on Training, Salinas CA Wed. April 3, 2024

Date: Wed. April 3rd,  2024

Course 8:30 am – 12 pm

Location: Monterey County Agriculture Conference Room

1432 Abbott St, Salinas CA 93901

•  Learn how to use CropManage to support irrigation and nutrient management decisions and record-keeping for your crops.
• Learn how to set up your ranch and crops in CropManage.
• Learn about the latest updates and how CropManage can assist with Ag Order 4.0
  

CropManage is a free online decision-support tool for water and nutrient management of vegetables, berry, agronomic, vineyard and tree crops. Based on research and field studies conducted by the University of California Cooperative Extension, CropManage provides real-time recommendations for efficient and timely irrigation and fertilization applications while maintaining or improving overall yield. 

At this free workshop, we will provide hands-on training so that you can learn to use the newest version of CropManage. Crops currently supported include many vegetables (carrots, cabbage, celery, broccoli, lettuce, tomato, spinach, etc.), berry crops (raspberry and strawberry), vineyards, tree crops (almond, walnut, pistachio, prunes, and pear), and agronomic crops (alfalfa and corn). CropManage is also available in Spanish. 

Who should participate? Growers, farm managers, other farm staff, crop advisors, consultants, and technical service providers are welcome. The workshop is for both new and current CropManage users. Spanish translation will be available.  

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. Each participant will need a user account for CropManage. Please set up a free user account at https://cropmanage.ucanr.edu/ before the workshop. Please arrive early to set up your laptop or tablet computer on the wifi and get logged on to CropManage.

Registration is free: Please register here 

by April 1, 2024. Seats are limited to the first 30 registrants.

 Questions: Contact Michael Cahn at mdcahn@ucanr.edu / 831-214-3690                                              

 

Agenda

8:30 – 8:50  am Registration and computer set-up

8:50 – 9:20  am Introduction

9:20 – 10:00 am  Getting started with CropManage

10:00 to 10:15 am   break

10:10 – 11:00 am  Using CropManage for decision support and record-keeping

11:00 – 11:45 am  Group exercise

11:45- 12 pm  Discussion /Q&A/ wrap up

Drop-in office hours

Continuing Education Units (CEU) for Certified Crop Advisors (CCA) have been applied.

HOW to IRRIGATE in ONE text

Microirrigation for Crop Production: Design, Operation, and Management, Second Edition is the latest release in this go-to foundational resource for the basics of engineering and the science of the design and operation of micoirrigation systems. This new edition includes novel methods for measurement and estimation of evapotranspiration, resource-efficient microirrigation design and operation, advanced irrigation scheduling methods and tools, novel methods and technology of microirrigation automation, monitoring and control, updates in crop salinity tolerance and leaching practices, variable rate irrigation, updates on the use of biological effluents and chemicals and pesticides to include safety and regulatory concerns.The revised book provides an understanding on the basic science needed to comprehend systems design, operation, management, maintenance, monitoring and performance evaluation.

Editors: James E. Ayars, Daniele Zaccaria, Khaled M. Bali

irrigATING CITRUS

Watering and Irrigation

If you plan to travel this summer, now might be a good time to install an automatic watering system.  Doing so can ensure that your plants will not be under-watered or over-watered in your absence. An effective irrigation system will supply the...

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