Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Agriculture Category
Click here to view all posts

Rainwater, iPhone app help thirsty California farms

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 29, 2009 at 6:12 am

From NPR’s Morning Edition:

Zach Sheely, 27, is excited about the family farming business now that a California-based irrigation software company, PureSense, lets him and other farmers check on their crops using an iPhone.

The iPhone application allows them to access information from underground sensors that detect moisture levels near the roots of crops. The underground sensors aren’t cheap. Each sensor station, consisting of multiple sensors in a field, costs $5,000, and the family currently has 20 of them. They’ve helped shorten watering times, stressing the plants just enough so they produce healthy fruit.

“We don’t want to put too much on,” says Sheely. “The plants go dormant with too much water, and it can slow growth. And if you put too little on, it also slows the growth. So we want to stay right in that sweet spot of growth.”

Read more from NPR’s Morning Edition by clicking here.

June 29, 2009 · Filed Under Agriculture

Comments

Leave a Reply