Automating Irrigation

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

Bringing automation to the farm isn’t just about robots and driverless tractors. There are some real practical applications that can be automated to reduce labor costs and improve productivity and efficiency. When Jimmy Nichols returned to his family farm, he found opportunities to automate irrigation which eventually led to founding the company HotSpot Ag.

Nichols… “We were looking at better ways to know how much water we were putting on our pistachios and almonds. And over the years, we got good at getting an understanding of how much we're putting out. Several years after that. We wanted to automate a water budget and started retrofitting pumps and valves for remote irrigation control and monitoring.”

Nichols said there are labor savings, but also improvements to plant productivity and help with regulators.

Nichols… “Automation can help promote plant productivity. So applying the amount of water at the right time will help plant health, plant vigor, and ultimately better yield and quality. The second thing that's coming on the horizon is SGMA. And so having an understanding of how much water you're going to be allocated for the year and being able to track those applications throughout the year and know how much you have left in the bank to essentially spend or irrigate for the remaining part of the season.”

Learn more at HotSpotag.com.