IIC to host Smart webinar

The Irrigation Innovation Consortium, Fort Collins, will host the Smart webinar featuring insights from three IIC-supported water research projects from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. MT on July 20. The webinar will highlight motivations and barriers to producer and golf course superintendent use of tools, data and management strategies.

There will be two presentations on ag-related research projects on orchard management and agrivoltaics.

The first ag research project presentation will be on identifying critical areas in California orchards for improving irrigation water management through precision agriculture technology, led by Dilruba Yeasmin of Fresno State University.

The overall goal of this project is to identify and map orchard areas that will likely face growing water and crop stress issues over time and identify where precision irrigation technologies could most effectively be used. Additionally, the team wanted to better understand why and when orchardists began to integrate these technologies. Using insights from multiyear satellite imagery, 24 orchards across 18 California counties were identified. Findings from a survey of California orchardists on what has motivated or hindered from using more advanced or precision irrigation technologies will also be shared.

The second ag research project presentation will be on quantifying irrigation water savings from multiple agrivoltaics configurations, led by Jordan Macknick of National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
“Agrivoltaics” is the term used to describe agricultural activities integrated with solar panels in the same space. This team is focused on developing understanding and characterizing irrigation water requirements and potential irrigation savings for various agrivoltaic configurations.

A presentation will also be on landscape irrigation tackling precision irrigation on golf course fairways using soil moisture sensors and mapping.

Visit the IIC’s website to register for the Smart webinar.

Read more about the IIC.