Monday, March 9, 2015

UF/IFAS Proudly Presents: Smartirrigation Avocado

Avocado has joined the ranks of important agricultural commodities in Florida with their own mobile irrigation app. Mobile apps for irrigation offer growers and homeowners convenient access to efficient irrigation scheduling and thus water savings. The newly released Smartirrigation (SI) Avocado, along with citrus, strawberry, vegetable and turf round out the Smartirrigation app suite for use in Florida. 
How does it work?
To use SI Avocado, the grower simply enters the irrigation system characteristics in the orchard. The app then estimates crop water demand and provides irrigation run times and event depths by considering: 
  • orchard location 
  • crop growth characteristics 
  • weather parameters (rainfall, temperatures, relative humidity and wind speed) obtained from the nearest Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) station
  • allowed watering days
Passing the savings on to you: a sample app-generated irrigation schedule
Of course, it would not be a proper app without push notifications, and SI Avocado offers growers a variety of alerts, such as:
  • estimated water savings 
  • changes to irrigation run times  
  • weather forecast  
  • when to turn off irrigation events 
  • weekly reports about irrigation schedules
App-generated weather forecasts let you plan ahead
Does it work?
“The apps provide a 20 to 50% water savings, minimize nutrient leaching and provide energy savings due to short pump run times (thus less fuel) if recommendations of irrigation schedules are followed,” said Dr. Kati Migliaccio, Associate Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida. “Water savings for the Avocado app are currently being evaluated in a study in Homestead, Florida, but are expected to be in the same range.”

The goal: maximize outputs, minimize inputs
Download today
SI Avocado is available for use with both iOS and Android devices and is tailored specifically for Florida and Georgia residents.

For more information on the app, contact: Dr. Kati Migliaccio.

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