Best Water Management Apps

A list of best water management apps Ciampitti recommends, as well as others from ag-based universities like Texas A&M and the University of Nebraska 

Agriculture is dependent on water. While a farmer can’t control when it rains, he can control how he manages the water he does have.

“We have seen a growing sector of farmers who are using apps,” said Ignacio Ciampitti, associate professor of agronomy at Kansas State University.

Ciampitti says the best app for Kansas is the University of Nebraska’s Crop Water app.

According to UNL, this app provides an easy way to estimate soil water status based on Watermark sensors installed at depths of 1, 2 and 3 feet. With these sensor readings, the Crop Water app will estimate the water used as well as what is still available.

You can also see historic sensor readings and graphs, create new graphs, or pin your GPS location for the fields.

The graphs feature will allow you to chart your field’s soil water status over time and show total soil water or capacity as well as levels remaining for each of the three depths.

While it is specifically designed for Nebraska soils, it can also be of use in states with similar soils where growers are using Watermark sensors. Ciampitti noted it is a good fit for Kansas.

Here are are few other water management apps Ciampitti recommends, as well as others from ag-based universities like Texas A&M and the University of Nebraska. For a list of all agriculture-based apps that Ciampitti finds useful, visit http://hutchne.ws/farmapps.

• SmartIrrigation Apps – This project focuses on the development of smartphone apps for citrus, cotton, strawberry and urban lawn. The free apps provide real-time and forecasted information that can be used for more efficient irrigation and water conservation.

• Crop Nutrients in Irrigation Water – By Oklahoma State, this app, with the input of laboratory results and an expected seasonal irrigation by the user, will provide an estimated amount of nutrients delivered with every acre in of water applied and total pounds per acre per season. These results can then be used to adjust fertilizer management plans and strategies.

• Water Meter Calculator App – This UNL app helps calculate the number of inches of irrigation water applied based on water meter readings.

• IrrigationCost App – This UNL app computes the annualized cost of owning and operating an irrigation system.

• IrrigatePump App – Developed by UNL, it calculates a pumping plant’s efficiency powered by diesel, electricity, gasoline, natural gas or propane.

• CropWater App – Updated to help calculate the last irrigation of the season.

• Water Cost – The Texas A&M app calculates cost per acre and acre-inch of irrigation applied by entering fuel meter readings, hours of operation, gallons per minute, acres covered and cost of fuel per meter unit. Also, it calculates the acre-inches applied per acre.

Source: hutchnews

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