Introduction

Of all the variables that can impact crop health and yield, weather is the most unpredictable. Droughts, floods, heat waves, and frost are occurring more frequently and in greater extremes. While these extreme weather conditions present a significant risk to farmers, they also impact the nearby rural communities and metropolitan areas further away. And this has led to tougher conversations about water availability, water quality, fertilizer run-off, and de-carbonization.

As water availability becomes less predictable and increasing populations increase the demand for water resources, farmers are under growing financial and regulatory pressure to use less water. The best way to do this is by storing more water when we experience large rainfall events and by using less water during dry conditions. Some of the financial pressures to deal with water scarcity and higher water rates will come as:

• The need to build more and larger irrigation ponds;
• extending or drilling additional wells for pumps and irrigation pivots to handle larger water table fluctuations;
• higher rates for extracting water from marshes, rivers, or municipal irrigation systems.

Whichever irrigation model fits your farm operation, the only certainty is that any water you gather or extract will cost more.

This article describes how introducing soil moisture sensors into your farm operation can lead to real cost savings year-over-year; help you become more water efficient, provide benefits beyond dollars and cents, and how simple and inexpensive it can be done using Esprida’s ConnectedCrops™ agriculture platform.

Reducing costs through water conservation

The only way to keep water usage costs down is to be more efficient in how and when it’s used. From a crop irrigation perspective, this means:

·   Knowing the optimum soil moisture range for your crop

Farmers know this from experience with their crops, but agricultural journals, crop associations, and seed suppliers can help you keep up with the latest research;

·   Understanding the water-holding capacity of your soil

How much moisture your soil can hold (and for how long) is a function of the soil type, something every farmer will know for each of their fields. If you’re not certain, soil testing labs can determine this for you;

·   Irrigating according to the topography of a field

Hills, slopes, low spots, and shaded areas all impact how fast soil absorbs, retains, and sheds water. This leads to different water needs within a field. Understanding these areas and irrigating accordingly can avoid over-irrigating areas and saving water. The precise water needs of these topographical variations can be better understood using strategically placed soil moisture sensors in the field, allowing an operator to adjust their irrigation profile to achieve more evenly distributed soil moisture;

·   Irrigating when a crop’s root system needs it

Soil moisture at the surface, 6 inches down, 12 inches down, and at the crop root zone can be significantly different. If you currently irrigate to a schedule, base your irrigation decision on visual soil observations, or by the “feel” test, you’re likely over-irrigating at times. Sensors placed at the crop root level can tell you exactly when the crop needs water, avoiding water loss.

How does this reduce a farm’s costs? If, by being more water efficient, a farm operation can:

• avoid the need to enlarge existing irrigation ponds or build new ponds;
• reduce how much water is drawn from a municipal irrigation system;
• reduce fertilizer leaching by not over-watering;

then recovering an investment in a soil moisture monitoring system can be achieved quickly.

Better crop harvests and quality

Having soil moisture sensors means farmers have real data to help them keep their soil moisture levels within the optimal range using a strategic irrigation strategy, leading to a healthier crop and the best possible yield. The irrigation strategy can be easily adjusted throughout a growing season to meet the differing needs throughout their crop’s growth cycle and due to weather fluctuations and be monitored to ensure that soil moisture remains in this optimum range.

Without knowing the impact of topographical differences on soil moisture absorption, retention, and shedding, most farmers will irrigate the same amount across their fields. This can lead to:

• areas of a field that are over-irrigated and remain saturated for long periods. Excess Water Stress causes oxygen depletion leading to reduced root respiration and other vital plant processes. If these topographical differences result in continuous over-watering throughout the growing season, plant health and yield will be impacted;
• areas under irrigated will encounter heat stress and water deprivation, both of which, even in small doses, can have determinantal consequences to plant health and yield.

In 2016, southern Ontario’s drought reduced the tender fruit crop size by 25% and decreased crop value by 30% on average. If a portion of a field enters a ‘drought’ state because of how the topography impacts soil moisture, that can still significantly impact overall yield and value from that field. Adopting a modified irrigation strategy in this portion of the field, guided by data from a soil moisture sensor, can help optimize the yield and crop quality.

The economic benefits of a detailed irrigation strategy in Niagara vineyards have been studied and shown to contribute to:[1]

• Higher yield
• Improved shoot growth (indicative of better nutrient utilization)
• Reduction in pest problems
• Improved enology (higher sugar, corrected pH and potassium, avoiding atypical aging (ATA)
• Improved vine vigour

Sustainable Certification

Federal and provincial governments and virtually every association in the Canadian agriculture industry now have or are working on sustainability programs, all of which include water quality and conservation initiatives. Within these initiatives, adopting sensors to monitor soil moisture and irrigating only when necessary is a core component. 

Many of these programs provide voluntary guidelines to be followed so that farmers can run a more sustainable operation and reduce costs. Other programs, like The Grape Growers of Ontario, have a certification process allowing vineyards and wineries to display the Certified Sustainable emblem on wine bottles, cases, and marketing material. Farm operators are pursuing these sustainable certifications for one or more of the following reasons:

Ethics – nobody understands better than a farmer or grower that taking care of their soil, the environment, and water resources is critical to the current and future livelihood of their farm and family and to the planet in general;

Risk Mitigation –many of these sustainable initiatives are devoted to reducing the impact of climate change. The efficient use of water also contributes to reducing the risk of encountering water shortages on their farm, or having to absorb higher water costs that threaten the financial viability of their crop;

Customer Requirement –in some cases, the customers of growers are requiring their suppliers to obtain sustainable certifications. For example, Ontario wineries that have or are pursuing the Certified Sustainable designation, require the vineyards that supply them with grapes to also obtain this certification;

Marketing – just like certified organic farm operations cater to a segment of consumers, marketing agricultural products coming from sustainable farm operations is gathering momentum in North America. The European Union has led the world for the past decade in adopting and certifying sustainable farming practices. The certifications below are just a few that place a heavy emphasis on resource management, especially water conservation, and efficiency:

• GlobalGAP
• HEV (High Environmental Value) Certification
• Leaf (Linking Environment and Farming) Certification
• WfCP (Wineries for Climate Protection) Certification

Many levels of government and associations here in Canada are using one or more of these as a template for programs specific to their region or agriculture sectors. The Canadian Government began working on a Sustainable Agriculture Strategy (SAS) in December 2022 with stakeholders. Ultimately this will lead to various certifications similar to what the EU has adopted.

Why should a farm operation invest the time and resources to pursue a sustainable certification? A 2023 Survey on Consumer Perceptions of Food (Government of Canada) [2] had the following insights:

• More than half (60%) of consumers say they consider the environmental impact, such as reducing the use of plastic or packaging, in their food purchase decisions
• Over one-third (38%) of consumers say they consider if a product has been produced using environmentally sensitive agricultural methods, such as water conservation, crop rotation, or zero/low till systems
• One in ten (11%) consumers say they have changed their food purchasing habits in the last year due to the impacts from climate change

If the Canadian consumer is already embracing this thinking, agricultural associations and farmers should also be considering it.

mPowered is a Guelph-based company that allows farmers to upload their data and create a profile of the type of data they have. Companies looking for data will find their profile and contact the farmer to make a transaction.

This means that the work performed on the farm, the data collected while doing it and the environmental data related to soil health and water usage could soon become an additional revenue stream for farmers.

Summary

Modern agriculture has become much more data-driven. While this can be overwhelming to some, in the case of soil moisture data, a small investment can offer large benefits and opportunities. From reducing capital costs and operating costs through water conservation, to increasing yields and crop health through more strategic irrigation practices, sustainable farming certifications that satisfy compliance and offer marketing opportunities, to monetizing your farm data in new ways, soil moisture data from your fields can add value in many ways.

The ConnectedCrops™ System makes the collection and use of this data, simple, giving you access to soil moisture data anywhere, anytime, directly on your mobile phone.

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[1] Niagara Irrigation Strategic Action Plan: https://ontariotenderfruit.ca/uploads/file/IrrigationStrat_2017_updated.pdf

[2] https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/consumer-trends-and-behaviours/survey-consumer-perceptions-food-wave-vi

[3] Can you turn your farm data into cash? https://www.farmprogress.com/technology/can-you-turn-farm-data-into-cash-