Tools for Measuring Fertigation

The October 15th Southwest Farm Press Article entitled System, nutrient management are keys to drip irrigation success discusses one of the caveats of drip irrigation. As a possible remedial strategy, the article suggests the process of injecting fertilizer through your drip irrigation system.

While some best practices were suggested in the article, technologies for measuring fertigation were not discussed in great detail. Metering technology can be quite beneficial in applying proper amounts. SeaMetrics manufactures Low-Flow Fertigation meters that can be used in conjunction with popular systems such as those from Agri-Jet. The beauty of these meters is that they are fully compatible with the NetIrrigate® Telemetry Box Version 3.0. In addition to monitoring your water application amounts to each zone within your drip irrigated field, you can also monitor your fertigation at www.netirrigate.com. Since our new telemetry box offers dual meter inputs, irrigation AND fertigation data can now be at your fingertips.

Without Water, “Joe the Plumber” is Out of a Job

The presidential debate on October 15th made “Joe the Plumber” famous. But little was discussed about the most important aspect of plumbing: WATER. As both candidates talked about cutting the budget with hatchets and scalpels, I began to wonder what the future of the U.S. Water and Wastewater Agricultural Segment Budget might be! For those of you unfamiliar with this segment of the federal water budget, I’ll provide a quick overview…

The water budget allocated for the agricultural segment is mostly used to improve the conditions of water systems used for farming and rural consumption. A primary goal of the funds is to reduce water costs and improve water quality for rural users. The 2008 budget is around $2.9 Billion and is comprised of the following seven entities which consume the respective amounts:

• 6% – The Agricultural Research Service
  (www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm)
• 2% – The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
  (www.csrees.usda.gov)
• < 1 % – Economic Research Service
  (www.ers.usda.gov)
• < 1% – Farm Service Agency
  (www.fsa.usda.gov)
• 3% – Forest Service
  (www.fs.fed.us)
• 21% – Natural Resources Conservation Service
  (www.nrcs.usda.gov)
• 68% – Rural Utilities Service
  (www.usda.gov/rus/)

The majority of the expenditures are in the forms of loans and grants to address water system improvements. For example, the Rural Utilities Service provided funding for construction projects such as: new water lines, pumping stations, wells, storage tanks, and treatment plants.

As competition for water resources continues to increase in Western States, I urge our presidential candidates to not lose sight of mankind’s most precious resource as they plan their budget cuts. Likewise, I encourage stakeholders to gain an understanding of how these dollars might be being spent in your agricultural community by contacting local representatives of the agencies listed above.

Thanks to our customers!

With the heavy irrigation season winding down, we’d like to thank our customers for their feedback.  2008 has been a great year for Net Irrigate thus far.  As we’ve further expanded into new regions, we’ve increased our knowledge on the differing customer needs specific to geographic areas.  Spectacular input from our customers has allowed us to build an even better NetIrrigate® Telemetry Box loaded with the most asked for features for 2009.  We’ll also be releasing a new version of our web based software on January 31st of the New Year. 

In the mean time, we encourage existing and potential customers to learn more about our technology innovations at the recently upgraded netirrigate.com website.  We also hope to visit with many of you at the upcoming 2008 Annual Irrigation Show in Anaheim, California. 

SeaMetrics EX-Series Magmeters

Customers frequently ask me to recommend a flow meter for their irrigation application. I usually suggest SeaMetrics flow meters. I think SeaMetrics offers good products at reasonable prices. SeaMetrics also has a friendly and knowledgeable support staff. Finally, their meters all offer a pulse output making them “telemetry ready” which is ideal when hooking up to the NetIrrigate® Telemetry Box.

In the early days of Net Irrigate, we typically incorporated IP and TX series turbine meters into our
applications. These meters proved to be durable and accurate and served us and our customers well. Confident in the entire SeaMetrics line, we then started incorporating EX80-Series magmeters into some of our applications. This is when we had a change of heart.

The EX80-Series meters often emit “phantom pulses” when no flow is present in the pipe. Even with proper grounding and with strict adherence to installation guidelines, the phenomenon sometimes occurs. Surprisingly, phantom pulse rates sometimes even mimic actual pumping rates! This can be extremely frustrating in a telemetry application which fires off alerts based on certain pumping events. It creates a “Boy Who Cried Wolf” scenario. In addition, it inaccurately and unfavorably reflects how much water an entity may be pumping.

This is the only SeaMetrics product we’ve experienced this problem with, and despite the issue, we still remain an advocate of their IP-Series, TX-Series, and AG2000 meters. Nevertheless, we at Net Irrigate hope SeaMetrics resolves the “phantom pulse” issues associated with their EX80-Series Magmeters.

Beware of Phantom Pulses