By Frank Giles Editor, Florida Grower
The benefits technology brings to growers seeking to measure and maximize their water applications to their acreage can be measured in efficacy and return on investment. But the motivation to precisely irrigate also comes with a conservation mindset. Two Florida specialty crop operations exemplify that mindset, making data-driven decisions that result in smart irrigation.
When you visit Florida Blue Farms’ web page, the following statement on their business captures their core values: “We believe in faith and family, and we are committed to conservation through land stewardship and protecting our natural resources.”
Protecting water resources on the Waldo, FL, blueberry farm is a top consideration in all production decisions. Brittany Lee runs the operation and deploys several tactics to conserve water and reduce the chances of nutrient runoff into waterways. And other growers are taking notice. In 2017, Lee received the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Commissioner’s Environmental Leadership Award for her stewardship on the farm.
The Everglades Agricultural Area is home to dark, rich muck soils and is one of the most regulated in the country when it comes to water.
Lee, a self-confessed technology geek, is utilizing a number of technologies to maximize efficiency and production on the farm. The latest tool is soil probes that provide a wide array of data.
“It is like having little computer geniuses in the soil,” she says. “We started using them last fall and are using the data to pulse irrigate the blueberries during the summer to avoid over saturating the plants. It is helping us conserve water. The Sentek probes provide all sorts of analytics to help conserve water, but also data on fertility. It will alert you were the fertilizer (salinity) is in the soil profile, which allows us to manage irrigation, so we don’t push the nutrients below the root zone.”
Lee says it is hard to exactly quantify water savings using the probes and pulsing the irrigation, but the amount is significant. Lee worked with Trenton, FL-based BMP Logic to install the probes, and the company provides consulting services and a software platform to maximize the data. The online software platform called IRIS gives visibility and provides the analytics to save water and conserve fertilizer. The built-in artificial intelligence of the software shows growers plant rooting depth and irrigation infiltration. Armed with this intelligence, the farm addresses two major concerns in Florida — water quantity and water quality. It also meets the standards of the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Best Management Practices (BMPs) program designed for specialty crops. BMP Logic also assists growers seeking cost-share dollars on water stewardship practices and/or products.
But the data doesn’t stop there. Across the farm multiple weather stations from Rainwise, Metos, and Highland Precision Ag are deployed. They are particularly useful during freeze events to gather data used to turn water on and off at the right time to protect plants. This precise application of freeze protection results in significant water savings compared to traditional practices. Lee says the farm can count on at least one freeze event per winter.
A Netafim PRO control panel runs the farm’s drip irrigation system and fertigation. Fertigation is applied by zones in the fields to meet specific plant needs, which can vary by soil type and even variety.
A self-described technology geek, Brittany Lee relies on data to make smart irrigation decisions.
When planning the design of the farm in 2007, Lee laid out fields where water would flow toward the backside of the property where a 2-acre tailwater recovery pond was dug to reclaim irrigation and rainwater. The pond holds nearly 8 million gallons of water.
“When we have freeze events, we have been able to reduce our groundwater usage by 50% by using water from the tailwater pond,” she says. “The way we have the farm laid out to catch the water in the pond, we are recycling 75% to 80% of the water we apply on the farm.”
No place in Florida or the country faces more scrutiny when it comes to water than the Everglades and its surrounding areas. Water is the lifeblood of that sensitive ecosystem.
Growers in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) south of Lake Okeechobee feel the brunt of that scrutiny, especially when blue/green algae outbreaks occur in the estuaries and shorelines around the lake. But the headline news often misses all the things agriculture does there to protect Florida waters.
The Everglades Forever Act, passed by the state of Florida in 1994, lays the groundwork to protect the ecosystem, and a good portion of the legislation focuses on the EAA. The Act calls for water entering the Everglades to carry only 10 parts per billion (ppb) of phosphorous. That’s equivalent to ¼ teaspoon poured into an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Phosphorous is the nutrient most harmful to the Everglades.
It mandates that growers in the EAA reduce phosphorous loads in water leaving the area by 25% of pre-BMP levels. Growers also are required to pay a $25 per-acre, per-year Everglades Privilege Tax. The tax funds public works projects — the other major component of the law. Storm water treatment areas (STAs) are a big part of the plan to clean phosphorous out of water as it slowly drains toward Everglades National Park. In addition, growers in the area have imposed a $5 per-acre, per-year tax on themselves to fund research to further improve their productivity while protecting the local environment.
Not only have EAA growers reduced phosphorus loads by 25%, they have reduced it on average by 57% over the years.
Derek Orsenigo, who farms with his father Paul in the EAA, says protecting water must come with a standard operating procedure mentality. Their operation, Growers Management Inc., grows a variety of crops including leafy greens, sweet corn, and sugarcane.
“We try to follow the UF/IFAS BMP recommendations with our crops and the 4R fertilizer principles (right source, rate, time, and place),” Derek Orsenigo says. “It makes sense because there are both environmental and economic benefits to doing so.”
Last season, Orsenigo installed weather stations at all his farm locations both on the EAA muck ground areas and on sandy-land fields. The stations were supplied by Highlands Precision Ag as part of its Highlands Hub platform.
The weather stations are nice because you can monitor your rainfall, wind speed, humidity, and dew points, so you can make educated decisions on what to do with irrigation based on the data. It updates every five minutes and you can access they data via your phone and other devices."
Other water-minded practices include the use of controlled-released fertilizer to avoid nutrient leaching and benefit crop growth. The farm also deploys rice in its rotation on muck ground for several reasons, including curbing soil subsidence — a major problem in the EAA. On sandy ground, a cover crop of cowpeas and sunn hemp is planted in the summer to break up crop cycles of sweet corn.
