Quote from an Alberta farmer:
Effective remote sensing of soil moisture would likely help increase water use efficiency, by helping detect either "underwatering" conditions (water delivery problems, water scarcity/distribution problems, plant stress due to high evapotranspiration rates, high winds/temperatures, etc.) or "overwatering" conditions (plant stress from flooding/poor drainage, elevated energy costs for water delivery eg. electricity/natural gas, excessive soil leaching causing nutrient removal or excess gasification, etc.). We anticipate that for many established irrigation operations, overwatering is more prevalent than underwatering. Water "prescriptions" are endlessly dynamic due to changes in the external environment (relative humidity, wind, temperature, etc), so remote sensing alternatives featuring soil moisture sensors, plant stress sensors/surveillance, and weather stations are technologies requiring evaluation for Southern Alberta applications. On our farm, we have automated pivot control on the majority of our 100+ pivots, but still rely on an irrigation team to evaluate moisture conditions and plant stress to make adjustments. Smart irrigation management technologies using the technologies mentioned above would help us reduce electricity (pumping) costs, optimize water usage, and reduce endless truck traffic to the fields through the irrigation season.