A Systems Engineering Approach to Viticulture On-Farm Irrigation

Abstract

Water resources management presents an important research topic, because our planet is facing a serious water crisis. About 70% of all fresh water usage goes towards agriculture. Moreover, low water application efficiency are well reported in the literature. Improving on-farm irrigation efficiency can make a substantial contribution to a more sustainable utilization of the world's fresh water resources. It is argued that systems engineering principles can assist to realize the goal of improving water efficiency or produce quality in on-farm irrigation whilst maintaining productivity and quality of service. In approaching this resource management problem, wireless sensor network technologies and automation ideas are combined to improve economic productivity in dairy, horticulture and viticulture industries in such a way as to support continued growth in these major food industries in the face of a competitive water market. This paper reports the early progress of the project on smart irrigation system for viticulture and initial attempt in modeling the viticulture soil-water dynamics is briefly discussed. The results obtained are encouraging indicating that water automation is a promising technology.