New app for irrigators cuts costs

A free app has been developed that will simplify crop irrigation in Western Australia — it draws on real-time data from the state’s 136 weather stations.

The Irrigate WA app is designed to help the more than 2500 agricultural irrigators in WA schedule their watering time, volume and duration.

Agriculture and Food Minister Ken Baston said growers could tailor the easy-to-use app to individual paddock requirements to optimise water use and crop potential.

“Fruit and vegetable growers, as well as pasture producers and turf providers, can use the app to water their crops at the right time with the right amount of water on any given day,” said Baston.

The app takes into account the production area, soil and crop type, irrigation system, plus daily rainfall and evaporation rates.

It also provides a field diary for growers to track water meter readings and to record harvest details, which they can use to develop benchmarks for water use efficiency.

Developed by the Department of Agriculture and Food, the app is part of the Royalties for Regions $78.205 million Regional Development Water and Natural Resource Management initiative that aims to drive improved irrigation practices and build sustainability in agriculture businesses.

Image courtesy of Sheila Sund under CC BY 2.0