Digitalization of vegetable irrigation - decision support for efficient use of water and good crop quality
Irrigation is one of the agrotechnical measures that can eliminate or at least mitigate the effects of drought in agriculture. On the other hand, where irrigation is introduced, agriculture is the largest consumer of water. Irrigation in Slovenia is mostly carried out at random, without using information on key factors for proper irrigation, so farmers in Slovenia tend to irrigate too much and start irrigating too late. Excessive irrigation causes nutrients to be washed away through the soil profile on the one hand and excessive consumption of water on the other. This can also be reflected in poorer crop quality and sustainability, as well as poorer plant health. Due to climate change, we can expect less water to be available for irrigation, and this water will certainly be more expensive. Professionally correct irrigation is therefore both more cost-effective and sustainable. The IRRIGEN Irrigation Information System (EIP project, 2020-2022) captures data from fields where sensors continuously measure the amount of water in the soil and soil temperature. The measurements are sent via a wireless network every few hours to a central system that prepares irrigation advice and forwards it to the farmer in an application available on a mobile device or a desktop computer. The system prepares irrigation advice several times a day, taking into account measurements from the field, weather forecasts, growth phase of the plants (phenophase) and soil properties, especially its ability to retain water.
Trans-disciplinary approaches for systemic economic, ecological and climate change transitions.
Ongoing | 2022-2026
- Main funding source
- Horizon Europe (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Project Keywords
- Agro-ecology
- Biodiversity and nature
- Climate change (incl. GHG reduction, adaptation and mitigation, and other air related issues)
- Rural issues
- AKIS, incl. advice, training, on-farm demo, interactive innovation projects
- Crop rotation/crop diversification/dual-purpose or mixed cropping
- Animal husbandry
- Farm diversification
- Organic farming
- Outdoor horticulture and woody crops (incl. viticulture, olives, fruit, ornamentals)
- Social innovation
- Soil