What are the benefits of the having data from your field 12-months of the year? In this interview clip with Patrick Henry, CEO and our Chief Agronomist, David Sloane, they discuss the various benefits of having consistent data, and how the GroGuru underground system helps farmers improve their yield and make more money. Watch the clip here:
Patrick: Tell me more about the benefits of having the 12 months of data and the beginning-of-season data compared to only having it while the crops are in the ground.
David: I’ll give you an example. In the Texas Panhandle, they have an 18-inch allocation for a year.
Patrick: Eighteen inches of water?
David: Yes. That is their license per year. They have a rolling five-year average. When you take that allocation across the entire section, the wetted area under the circle, it means that it’s about 24 inches per year that they have to deal with. It’s only just enough to fully irrigate a crop. Of those 24 inches, they tend to put about six inches of their allocation on before they’ve even planted the crop.
That’s the time when, traditionally, you don’t even have sensors in the ground. You need to know how much winter moisture you have, and therefore, how much more you need to put in. You need to manage that process. Do you put it on in two three-inch irrigations or one six-inch irrigation or six one-inch irrigations? If you’re not measuring it, you have no way of knowing what you’re doing and the best approach.
Patrick: It’s the old story, if you’re not measuring it, you can’t manage it. With the current method, you don’t have sensors in the ground, so there’s no way to measure. Then there’s really no way to manage.
David: Yes. You cruise around the Texas Panhandle in March and you’ll see pivots running everywhere.
Patrick: Before they have crop in the ground?
David: Yes, before they have crop in the ground. Everyone is irrigating. That’s a time when you’re not measuring. They really want to measure it. What we’re able to do with permanent underground installation is a game changer.
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