Water Productivity, Efficiency and Sustainability Project Update

Di Renfree, WATER INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, NT FARMERS

Project Update – End of the irrigation season

During the irrigation season most of my time has been spent on maintenance of monitoring sites, verifying on the data collected, checking the crops at the sites, and collecting agronomic practices. While the irrigation season is nearly over, work is continuing for the Water Productivity, Efficiency and Sustainability Project.

Data will continue to be collected over the wet season to monitor the rainfall patterns which could help to better understand the influence of the wet season at two mango soil moisture monitoring sites.

The collection of grower irrigation surveys will continue as well as collecting current grower’s practices from all cooperator’s sites for the 2022 season. The aim is to gather data regarding current practices and moisture monitoring technology data, to establish baseline water use information. Coupled with moisture data and agronomic practices these results can lead to irrigation management recommendations for all crops and a resultant adaptation of changed practice, aiming to improve grower productivity, efficiency, and sustainability.

Another exciting phase of the water project is organising irrigation management training and workshops for 2023. Keep posted on our website, Enews and on social media channels for field day updates in for your region for 2023.

Irrigation Australia International Conference and Exhibition

Irrigation Australia hosted the combined Irrigation Australia International Conference & Exhibition (IACE), 24th International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) Congress and 73rd International Executive Committee (IEC) Meeting held in Adelaide between the 3rd-10th October 2022. Tagged as the Greatest irrigation show on Earth, it surely didn’t disappoint.

Attending for three days, I did my best to fit in numerous presentations. Some interesting sessions were from the National Water Grid Authority, and the Smarter Irrigation for profit Phase 2 projects. The Smarter irrigation for profit phase 2 projects involved several presentations in various sessions over the three days of the conference. This project (phase 1and 2) was originally designed to complete research in areas including irrigation system audits, irrigation scheduling research, investigation of new technology, evaluation of system design and water efficiency assessments in industries such as cotton, sugar, grains, rice and dairy. These presentations covered topics of interest such as irrigation automation, plant-based sensing, and soil moisture in plant root zone based on remote sensing data.

The exhibition hall was enormous and was filled with almost every irrigation specialist in the country. Some great exhibitors with displays and information overload.

Another highlight was attending the invitational ‘Women working in water’ breakfast and forum. I met some inspirational and hard-working women at this function and listened to their journeys and experiences in the water sector.

The networking throughout the event was also fantastic, which I feel is one of the best outcomes of attending a conference of this size. Thanks to Irrigation Australia for organising such a great event.

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