Progress report for ONE24-459
Project Information
This project seeks to demonstrate the
advantages in automating irrigation scheduling, using low cost
equipment that is accessible and financially feasible for small
scale organic production.
-
Create statistically significant
quantifiable results using a one-way anova model, showing the
water usage and yields of sensor based, farmer based, and no
supplemental irrigation vairables. -
Compare yields to quantity of water used
to demonstrate the advantages of sensor based irrigation
scheduling, for units of water used (volume) per unit of
Onion produced (dry weight).
Given the difficulty of finding high yielding irrigation wells for vegetable production in the Northeast, this project aims to show that use of irrigation timers and automated adjustments of irrigation quantity based on can conserve both water and farmers time during the growing season, leading to increased production that easily justifies the expense of installing automated systems.
Only half of organic farmers reported using water controller devices in the 2021 survey of Organic producers. (USDA-NASS 2022). The perception that this is an expensive technology is perpetuated by the prevalence of subscription based controllers, which drives low adoption. Our study will produce statistically significant, quantifiable results which can be easily understood by farmers, and help encourage them to adopt these technologies. A quantifiable study is particularly desirable compared to a survey of different devices, because an increase in yields or water savings can be directly translated into greater profits for organic producers.
Improvements in the targeting of irrigation, in addition to water savings, will lead to less leaching of nutrients, helping farmers to save money on fertilizer, while also reducing the risk of nutrient runoff into the environment.
Watering efficiency is highest when evapotranspiration is lowest, before dawn, causing farmers to have to decide between waking up extremely early in the summer or sacrificing as much as 60% of efficiency by watering during the course of the day, when evaporation is at it’s highest rate(Allen et all, 2011). Efficiencies gained through automation can therefore improve quality of life for farmers, in addition to the yield gains made by optimizing irrigation for target vegetables.
This project will contribute to SARE’s outcome statement in a number of ways. By applying irrigation water precisely and judiciously, we will honor water by assuring it is used as necessary and not wasted. The land is honored because through precision irrigation, crops grown within it will be able to reach their maximum yields. Improving vegetable yields on existing farm lands precludes the need to further expand farming area, allowing for land to be set aside for wildlife and to exist for human enjoyment, outside of intensive human management. The dissemination of knowledge about low cost systems for irrigation automation will allow agriculture in the Northeast to be more sustainable, by limiting excessive draw down of groundwater resources and improving yields on existing lands as mentioned earlier. It will be more accessible and just, because farmers will be freed of the stress of lost yields caused by extended heatwaves and drought, while also taking the guesswork out of irrigation by giving farmers the information they need about soil moisture, temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure to better understand their land and climate and guide decisions about irrigation.
Cooperators
Research
This experiment will be conducted at the Lo Farm, using 4 randomized blocks to grow onions in 3 different treatment groups. 2 varieties of storage onions, one yellow and one red, grown from seed in 128 cell trays, with two seeds per tray, will be grown in a propagation greenhouse until they are ready to be planted out in mid april. Each variety will have 9.5 trays, for 1,216 total plants per variety. This exceeds the 59 plants per treatment, per block neccesary one-way ANOVA analysis, which comes to a 708 plant sample size.
Up until this point, the onions will receive identical treatment. The onions will be transplanted by hand into 2 rows per bed, with 8 inch spacing between each transplant cell. The planting area will be prepared and fertilized to meet the requirements of onions from a soil test, following a lab recommendation. The rows in the planting area will have drip irrigation for the 2 treatments which will receive supplemental irrigation, with two strips of drip tape per bed, 4 inches from each transplanted cell line. The entire planting will be covered with woven fabric mulch for weed suppression, in the manner that the LO Farm typically grows their storage onions.
The transplants will be planted in rows of 101 plants, 67 ft long. The blocks will be replicated randomly 4 times. The beds will be spaced with 3 ft between plantings, with 1 ft in-row spacing. One line of each variety will make up each bed, with 12 beds total. The first and last 10 plants in each bed will be a buffer zone, and not counted in the experiment, leading to a sample of 81 plants per bed per variety, still exceeding the 59 sample size necessary for ANOVA analysis.
Proposed treatments: The experiment will have 3 treatments, no irrigation water, farmer managed irrigation, and Vegetronix valve controller with soil moisture, soil temperature, air temperature, and Relative Humidity sensors. For the no irrigation water treatment, the onions will not be given supplemental irrigation after an initial watering in with a sprinkler system. This will provide a baseline to compare the effect of normal rainfall on growth, to compare the effect of irrigation in each year of the experiment. The farmer managed irrigation will be controlled by a manual valve which the farmer, Orlando, will open and close to irrigate for the amount of time and in the frequency he determines necessary, in the manner that he currently operates most of his drip irrigation. This will give the control variable to compare the improvements made by using sensor controlled timers. The third treatment will have a latching electric irrigation valve, controlled using the Vegetronix battery powered DC Controller. The controller will be programmed with guidance on the water needs of storage onions, with the quantity of water changing from the early period of vegetative growth to an increase during the period of bulbing. Irrigation will be delivered based on the moisture level in the soil, determined by average readings of 4 sensors. The controller will receive inputs wirelessly from sensors placed in each of the blocks to determine the soil moisture and temperature, to adjust according to the potential growth of each onion set and its corresponding water needs on each day of the season. Relative humidity and barometric pressure will also be measured to preemptively reduce watering when a rain event is likely eminent, to avoid over application of water.
Two main data points will be collected: the quantity of water used by each treatment, measured using water meters over the course of the season, attached to a data logger which will also log the data from the other aforementioned sensors, and the saleable yield of storage onions in each treatment, measured by weight. The LO Farm sells storage onions ungraded by weight, which is common for small scale growers who typically yield less than 1000 lbs of onions a year.
The onions will be harvested when ready in the late summer, when drydown of the greens is sufficient and separated to be weighed by variety, variable and block. They will be cured in humidity and temperature controlled storage with forced airflow, at which point spoiled onions will be separated, and the final weights for the experiment will be taken. All data will be recorded in spreadsheet tables separating each treatment block and tabulating the water usage of each and the total dry weight.
One-way ANOVA analysis will be conducted using the Farm Stat computer program from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln website. The experiment will be conducted twice, during the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Research will begin during 2025 growing season.
Research will begin during 2025 growing season.
Education & Outreach Activities and Participation Summary
Participation Summary:
Effective outreach is key to long-term impact. Describe how, with specific events or modes of distribution, you will share the results of your project with farmers who can use the information, as well as with relevant organizations or other stakeholders. If possible, include and describe activities that will reach historically underserved communities. List only what you can reasonably accomplish within your project’s timeline and specify the audience(s) and projected numbers of people that will be reached.
Leah Munsey, Orlando Diaz, and David Silberberg will attend the NOFA-NY conference, or an alternative organic vegetable growers conference, in the winter of 2026-2027 to present our findings. Leah and Orlando will speak to their experience as farmers in participating in the research, while David will present the scientific findings of the study. These conferences are attended by hundreds of growers, including beginning farmers and BIPOC farmers, including Orlando Diaz who is of Boricua descent. We will also write a research paper showing our results to be presented, and then to be published by SARE as part of our project.
There will also be an on farm presentation before the harvest of the 2026 season, to discuss our findings from 2025, and to demonstrate the trial as it is occuring to area farmers. This will be advertised through the Hudson Valley Young Farmers listserve and the Gang Greene farmers Alliance group, as well as being open to the general community. Expected attendance is 30-50 people and Leah, Orlando and David can conduct the presentation in English and Spanish. A handout will be produced with key takeaway points for attendees.