A grower’s perspective on technology

Roric Paulman of Paulman Farms is a third-generation farmer in western Nebraska, and his youngest son recently joined the operation. They currently farm around 6,000 acres in Lincoln, Keith and Perkins counties. Paulman’s top revenue crop is popcorn, but he also grows corn and soybeans and has grown numerous other crops from potatoes to kidney beans to chia. Paulman’s fields are 80% groundwater irrigated by center pivot and 20% rain fed. They utilize nearly every technology imaginable and have been a test bed and validation site for emerging technologies, not only in water, but also in nutrient management. Irrigation Today caught up with Paulman for a Q&A about technology use on his farm and what he foresees for ag tech in the future.

What irrigation technologies do you utilize on your farm?

Today, all of our fields are electromagnetically mapped. This allows us to understand the different soil makeup that affects the water holding capacity and infiltration rates. That information dictates a lot of our sprinkler packages and also blends well with understanding what our well capacities are. We no longer see our pivots as just a water delivery tool; we use it as an application asset too. We have multispectral cameras that look at the crop in real time and give us a footprint of the biomass. We utilize soil moisture probes and also use managed irrigation scheduling. Those are the cornerstones, and then we overlay it with drone technology and satellite imagery that give us different images at different times of the year. This real-time data is a big decision tool that we look at every day. Gathering that data is the important part, and then we work to turn that into better decision-making about our stewardship of natural resources, such as irrigation.

What irrigation technology has had the biggest impact on your operation and ability to make more efficient use of water?

There are two tools, and they’re used in conjunction — field-level weather stations — for accurate evapotranspiration data, timely reporting of rain data and managing load control — and soil moisture probes. These tools allow us to really understand what influences and changes our crop and measure that change in real time.

What do you foresee as the next great technology innovation on the horizon that can impact agricultural irrigation?

When the center pivot was first manufactured, it was strong and reliable for distributing water. Today, it’s gone beyond being a delivery tool — it’s a machine-learning AI platform. And the next best piece is connecting the acres by getting reliable broadband that takes all of those data points off of that field in real time. With a pivot, you’ve got a machine that’s going across your ground multiple times during the season, whether it’s for an irrigation event or fertigation or chemigation, and it can be analyzing numerous different data points. Right now, we’re relying on other platforms to do that. When you look at all of the activities and all the providers using today’s software and hardware, the question is: How do you turn that into a better decision? To me, that is figuring out how to get all those platforms to work together and play well in the sandbox.

Today, it’s [center pivot] gone beyond being a delivery tool — it’s a machine-learning AI platform.

What is the biggest challenge you see growers facing when it comes to irrigation technologies?

The United States is expected to be a leader — and Nebraska, too, as the No. 1 irrigated state — with the underlying stewardship responsibility of our natural resources. We want to leave a “legacy of water” not only in quality and quantity but also in timing to be delivering it to the right place at the right time. That, to me, is going to be the biggest hurdle. So, we’re continually evolving, innovating and trying to move the adoption needle so that we can address that challenge.

For more information about Roric Paulman and Paulman Farms, go to www.paulmanfarms.com.