PHOTO: JAN WILLEM SCHOUTEN
PRECISE IRRIGATION ▶▶▶
Using 10 to 20% less water with Raindancer
BY RENÉ KOERHUIS S
jaak Huetink is one of 26 participants in the National Experimental Ground for Precision Farming project, in Dutch Nationale Proeftuin Precisielandbouw
(NPPL). Future Farming has previously shared many experiences and successes from that project. The goal of the project, which was ini- tiated by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, is to make agriculture more sustainable by accelerating the adoption of precision techniques.
€ 2,500 irrigation costs per year Sjaak Huetink, who farms on about 300 hec- tares of leased land together with his brother Henri, specialises in non-standard crops in- cluding lily bulbs, onions, strawberry plants and sedum, started using 10 soil moisture sen- sors from Pessl Instruments last year to control the timing and amount of water required. The company runs eight hose reel systems with sprinklers to provide the irrigation as most crops require frequent irrigation. Lilies for ex- ample, can easily be irrigated 10 times a sea- son (20 to 25 mm at a time). So, on an annual basis this accumulates to 200 to 250 mm per hectare. “Based on € 1/m3
(1,000 litres) in total costs, ir-
rigation costs amount to € 10 per mm per ha and that accumulates to € 2,500 per ha per year,” says Sjaak. “Besides, many of our leased fields are odd-shaped, have paths and are lo- cated next to building, roads, other owner’s fields, etc. As the sprinklers have a circular pat- tern, you can imagine that crops suffer from both under and overdosing and that certain areas are irrigated unnecessarily. As a result, a lot of labour is required to check on the process and move the hose reels.”
Raindancer modules monitor In their quest for more precise irrigation and to mimimise labour, the Huetinks came across a solution from German company Raindancer.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 22 May 2020 43
European growers use GPS technology and an app to help them save water when irrigating their crops with hose reels and sprinklers. The technology, which is called Raindancer, can also help irrigate or avoid sectors and zones that aren’t circular.
The system enables GPS-controlled sector adjustment and irrigation monitoring and con- trol from your smartphone and PC. It also reg- isters water pressures, records the amounts of water applied and is able to irrigate according to VRA application maps. It can calculate the amount of water per irrigation moment, per season and even per well. To do this, Raindanc- er equips sprinklers with a GPS module and a solar panel, a pressure sensor and an angle sensor that sounds an alarm as soon as the sprinkler threatens to tip over. Furthermore, a sector control system for the sprinkler can be installed on any type of irrigation system.
Successful first season Huetink has so far equipped two of his Irri- france hose reels with the Raindancer system
and is very enthusiastic about the possibilities and the cost savings. “It makes the irrigation process a lot easier and we see that headlands are optimally irrigated without water being spilled outside the field. It is also possible to ir- rigate around an obstacle, a house for exam- ple, without any manual adjustment. We have a remote view of the progress, we can remote- ly correct for rising or changing winds, and we can remotely adjust the working width on the left or right separately. Moreover, we have in- sight into how much we water we use from each well. All in all, I think we can save the most time and water on sloping fields, about 10 to 20%. And I think this should also yield considerable returns, in addition to the advan- tage that you can always use the maximum working width on odd-shaped fields.”
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