A deep orange sun hangs low on the horizon as Raul surveys his fields. Stretching out below, a golden expanse that is a source of pride and until recently, intense stress. Farming has always been a gamble with the weather gods. Some seasons are intense, waiting for rains to keep the soil intact and the green shoots moving upwards.
A few seasons ago, Raul took a leap of faith, embracing pivot irrigation systems to mitigate the variables in rain water supply during the hot summers. It was a different kind of gamble, taking significant chunks of cash to set up and run. This new gamble has to pay off in better yields. The margins are too tight. He had looked at a linear pipe run, but his crop fields were small. The irregular plot size meant it was not a suitable fit.
Raul took one further step, in upgrading the pivot he had bought second hand from another local farmer with IoT sensors. He was already doing rain water harvesting and was invested in high quality wheat production, hoping for premium prices at harvest time. The tech upgrade didn’t take much effort to do and he was interested in how it would work with other systems he was using.
The turning point
Before the upgrade, Raul relied mainly on guesswork. He used hand held moisture sensors and a weather eye for what was happening in the sky. If a pivot slowed down or an old nozzle clogged, he found out later—when the wheat began to show signs of discoloration. Leaks meant pressure drops, wasted water and uneven coverage. Now he gets a notification on his phone, based on an anomaly in the analytics.
From his desktop monitoring station, he checks:
- Water pressure and flow rates: Sensors highlight inefficiencies instantly, so no more wasted water dripping onto barren ground.
- Moisture levels in the soil: A network of ground sensors tells him exactly how much water the wheat needs, and where. Raul’s land is level for the most part, but his soil type slightly varies in different fields.
- Pivot speed and position: He can track the system’s movements and adjust settings remotely to avoid over, or under, watering specific zones.
The smart farming way
One morning, Raul got an alert about an anomaly in the system. A sensor had detected reduced water flow in one of the pivot arms. Instead of rushing out to inspect the entire system, he pulled up the dashboard. A clogged nozzle was the culprit, and Raul dispatched his son to fix it.
Later in the season, when a dry spell hit, the air temperature sensors and soil moisture monitoring combined with weather data helped Raul fine-tune his irrigation pattern. By syncing the flow with the heat index, he ensured the wheat stayed hydrated during the midday heat.
He experimented with
The bottom line
By reducing waste, conserving water, and improving crop health, these technologies aren’t just tools—they’re providing the information to make better decisions, giving the overview to take action before the weather takes a turn.
