“Sustainable irrigation is the rational practice of all activities related with the irrigation of plants, whether in the areas of horticulture, landscape, or ornamentals, so that it helps to satisfy the respective survival and welfare needs of the present without compromising those of future generations”.
Sustainable irrigation considers the impacts of manufacturing and transportation of required equipment and materials, as well as incurred discharges and waste impacts. (1)
For traditional horticulture and commercial agriculture, irrigation
is a necessary process for plant growth and, although it can be done
manually, automating this process can bring several benefits to growers.
In addition, improving irrigation efficiency can contribute greatly to
reducing production costs, making the industry more competitive and
sustainable. Through proper irrigation, average yields can be maintained
(or increased) while minimizing environmental impacts caused by excess
applied water and subsequent agrichemical leaching. (2)
Fertigation is the process of delivering plants nutrients and water
to produce a quality crop with higher yields through automated
irrigation. Fertigation too can be a path towards achieving
sustainability. Just one of the benefits of using an automated system is
that it saves on labor costs by eliminating the need for employees to
constantly monitor and water plants which provides producers with
alternatives to a more sustainable use of their resources. In addition
to labor costs, hand watering could also affect the quality of the
product by introducing variability and error. Using an automated system
improves how tightly production can be controlled.
Fertigation is a key concept in cannabis cultivation and there are two common ways to supply fertilizers through an irrigation system for sustainable cannabis production: dilute tank control and in-line injection.
To read the full article submitted by Argus Controls to the Sustainable Cannabis Coalition, please click on the button below to visit the SCC website.
References
(1) What we understand for sustainable irrigation. “Asociacion del Riego Sostenible”. Available at: http://www.riego.org/asociacio... (Accessed: 29 January 2021).
(2) Munoz-Carpena, Dukes (2018) Automatic Irrigation Based on Soil Moisture for Vegetable Crops. University of Florida. Available at: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ae35... (Accessed: 21 January 2021).