FARMER'S TOOLBOX
Field Days demonstrate potential savings for growers
December, 2012
By Lori Rhodig, NEEA initiative manager
Last September on Berg Farms in Paterson, Wash.,
growers and irrigators got a close-up look at new,
energy-efficient irrigation technology that will offer
better control of watering, producing crops more efficiently
and profitably.
Hosted by the Northwest Energy Efficiency
Alliance (NEEA) with Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA), Oregon State University and
Northwest growers, the “Field Days” demonstration
was part of NEEA’s Agricultural Irrigation Energy
Efficiency initiative. Also attending were manufacturers
and service providers who displayed some
of the latest equipment and technology available to
growers.
The initiative will help integrate existing technologies
in the field, such as soil monitoring and weather
data, that haven’t traditionally communicated with
each other. This data will be easily accessed by
growers.
Throughout the year, NEEA’s team collected and
monitored soil moisture, weather data and conducted
tests. The test results will lead to giving regional
growers more control over how they operate their
fields. For example, by using hand-held devices,
growers can map out their fields, use collected data
to calculate how much water is needed and tie this
information back into their irrigation controls—all
from the palm of their hand.
With soil maps and probes and integrating weather,
evapotranspiration and other data, farmers can
improve and enhance the profitability and utilization
of water and electricity according to Geoff Wickes, product manager of emerging technologies at NEEA who
worked on the agricultural initiative over the spring and
summer on Northwest farms, including Berg Farms.
“Right now, irrigation accounts for roughly 5 percent of
the load in the Northwest. There’s a huge opportunity as
far as energy savings,” said Wickes.
Water is becoming a scarce commodity worldwide, and
it will be a problem in the Northwest in the future. The
merging of technologies will enable the
better use of water.
The initiative hopes to improve the
efficiency of water within large-scale irrigation
facilities across the Northwest.
The goal is to accelerate energy savings
in the Northwest by 20 percent by 2020,
accomplished through lower energy use
and reduced operating costs, while improving
profit per acre for the region’s
growers.
“By putting the right amount of
water at the right place at the right time
within the field, that is a whole new
level of precision application of water
and fertilizer,” said Tom Osborn, a BPA
engineer based in Walla Walla, Wash.
“Most farms and most farmers are
into becoming even more efficient and
more interested in technology. There’s a
whole new layer that has not been explored on how they
can get more yield out of that section and apply less fertilizer
on that section and not affect the performance and the
crop yields on their farm.”
Berg Farms, who hosted Field Days and was a part
of last spring’s tests, has had success in implementing
existing technology with new equipment. There has been
a learning curve but that’s expected—and one of the reasons
for Field Days.
“There are some challenges with the technologies and
integration of this project, and that’s another phase. We’re
trying to work these bugs out with the demonstrations.
We’re trying to drive the market to use data exchange
standards, much like a USB stick and the protocol associated
with that,” said Wickes.
Nicole Berg of Berg Farms says the key to the success
of the initiative is collaboration, including working with
NEEA, BPA and manufacturers of irrigation equipment.
“It’s an important part in dealing with upgrades in
technology, and it’s important to have somebody test drive
it for you first,” she said.
“When you deal with systems like ours with variable
speed drives and pumps at the river, there’s a lot of
moving parts with it. Yet if you can be more efficient as a
farmer, we’re more than willing to adopt technology any
time, any place we can.”
NEEA plans to continue to engage with regional growers
and irrigation equipment suppliers for their feedback,
demonstrate the business case for the initiative, continue
testing and provide education and outreach about the
initiative to the region’s growers. NEEA’s initial results
and project information from the studies will be available
soon. For more information on the NEEA initiative, please
visit http://neea.org/initiatives/industrial/agriculture.