Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
IRRIGATION Proper water application is equally important as nutrient application. As drought and water rationing become more common our responsible management of water resources becomes all the more imperative. Water really is our lifeblood. To allow for necessary adjustments to watering we rely on a large holding pond connected to our irrigation system. We hold water in the pond in case of drought or other emergencies. The pond and its monitoring system also enable us to track daily water input as well as excess water overflowing into the ditch. We can make adjustments to the amount of water we actually order from the water district and keep excess at a minimum. A growing percentage of our crops are armed with moisture sensors and 15 percent of our fields are equipped with a next generation water technology system. Through this system we can digitally control water application in real time using tablets and smart phones. As with nutrients our system also notifies us if we are watering in excess and we can quickly shut off the entire system if needed. We plan to expand this technology to all crops in the coming years. In addition to water monitoring we utilize drip irrigation which means water is fed directly into the soil through tubes rather than sprinklers or other methods. Drip irrigation allows water applications to be more focused eliminating excessively dry or excessively wet soil conditions and we led the implemen- tation of the technology in our region in the 1980s. It typically achieves over 90 percent efficiency while sprinklers hit only 50 to 70 percent efficiency. It also maintains optimum moisture levels over time which is better for our crops. THE PRACTICE