Read the
magazine
story to find out more. |
Technicians Jess
Childre (left) and Kathy Gray monitor telemetry equipment used to validate
Irrigator Pro recommendations for a crop of peanuts. Click the image for
more information about it. |
Irrigator Pro Software Helps Manage Crops More
Effectively
By Sharon Durham November 4, 2005
Managing irrigation and controlling pests while growing peanuts can be
more effective using a computer program called Irrigator Pro. Developed by
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists,
Irrigator
Pro is part of a collection of software called FarmSuite, which continues
to provide accurate information to farmers as its updated with new data.
Irrigator Pro versions for cotton and corn have also been developed
and are currently being validated in research trials to provide growers
recommendations on scheduling irrigation for those crops.
Researchers at the ARS
National Peanut Research Laboratory in Dawson, Ga., are conducting
long-term, multicrop research at a farm location to define the best irrigation
management practices for growers of peanuts, corn and cotton. The study has
completed the fourth year of a 15-year study to determine the impact of
irrigation, crop rotation and price on profitability. Data from this study is
imported into the software each growing season.
Retired mechanical engineer James Davidson collaborated with peanut
farmers and the Peanut Foundation to create Irrigator Pro in the late 1980s.
Irrigator Pro's goal is to improve economic returns for irrigated
peanut production and reduce risk associated with foreign material, immaturity,
off-flavor, chemical residues, negative environmental impact and aflatoxin.
More than 20 years of scientific research data and information are incorporated
in the software to help peanut farmers make informed, appropriate irrigation
decisions.
This software became the progenitor of a collection of software
systems that would help farmers do their jobs, according to ARS research leader
Marshall
Lamb in Dawson.
Read more
about the research in the November 2005 issue of Agricultural Research
magazine.
ARS is U.S. Department of
Agricultures chief scientific research agency.