Recently I was asked by a farmer to look at why his crop was not growing as it should be. He had just planted it and some of the seedlings had struck but in other areas there was no seedlings.

Digging into the sandy loam answered his question and raised some more for me. The soil was wet in the top 10mm but the next 20mm, the root zone was dry!!. No wonder the was no seedlings alive. The deeper soil was moist but not wet.

The whole point is the irrigator did not know the 3 important rules of irrigation: 1, Didn’t know how much water he was applying. 2, Didn’t know what the soil moisture capacity was. 3, Wasn’t shown by the irrigation company who had commissioned the pivot.

How many farmers have been in the same situation!!! Spend $000′s on irrigation equipment but no teaching on how to use it. Then spend money on Seed and fertiliser and waste it.

How to fix the problem? Get the irrigation company to teach them how to use the irrigator properly. The irrigation company should complete an audit to make sure the irrigator is applying the water that it is meant to. Install a soil moisture sensor in the soil – Aquaflex is the best one and most importantly use the information to ensure the crop that is planted grows to achieve to maximum economic yield. Good growing.