Bonjour, Montreal! One (easily excitable) graduate student's take on the 2014 ASABE Annual International Meeting

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) held its Annual International Meeting (AIM) from July 13-16 in Montreal, Canada. Several UF faculty members and students voyaged to the Great White North to attend – myself included! AIM attracts hundreds of Agricultural and Biological Engineers from across the world, and includes over 1,000 presentations and panel discussions.

Daeun Choi, PhD Student at the University of Florida, presenting her research
at the ASABE Annual International Meeting

The field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering consists of a large community of professionals that use the “engineering approach” to confront issues that occur as a result of human interaction with natural systems. Some of these interactions include water use, agriculture, and energy production. The vastness of these issues and interactions results in Agricultural and Biological Engineers working on a wide range of problems.

A profession that encompasses the whole planet!

This broad scope can admittedly make the wealth of presentations and topics at AIM a little overwhelming. But, the tremendous diversity of sessions at AIM ultimately makes the conference all the more enriching! I spent practically an hour every night putting my highlighter to the conference program to plan out my agenda for the next day.

UF researchers presenting bright and early at the Ecohydrology session

Although my graduate work focuses on water management, I’m also interested in agroecology and environmental health. Attending AIM, or other similar events that include a large breadth of topics such as those included at ASABE AIM, enables me to explore these additional interests and linkages to my own profession. I don’t want to sound like a salesperson here, but I highly recommend attending these sorts of “broad” conferences to provide perspective to your work, and spawn ideas for new projects and collaborations. It’s a fun time!

ASABE Student Video Competition

ASABE has initiated a Student Video Competition to invite Agricultural and Biological Engineering students to create a 3-minute video showcasing the “story of our work.” I worked alongside of Cininta Pertiwi and Stefani Leavitt – my friends and fellow graduate students at UF – to create a video for the competition. We wanted to give a glimpse of how the field transitioned from historically being Agricultural Engineering** to the modern profession of Agricultural AND Biological Engineering. The video places emphasis on the evolution of machinery, but the field has evolved in so many additional ways (as you can see from the posts on this blog!).

** Since its inception in 1907, the society was named ASAE – the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The society added “Biological” to its name in 2005.

 

Well, we ended up winning! Our video was screened at the ASABE AIM Awards Luncheon for all of the attendees to see. We were so honored to have been chosen! You can check out our winning video above, or on YouTube. 

About the author:

Natalie Nelson is a PhD Student and NSF Graduate 

Research Fellow in the Ag and Bio Engineering Dept 

at UF. She is presently developing and analyzing 

algal bloom models for use in Florida.

Applying science to water savings: smart irrigation month 2014

In late June I had the opportunity to join Miami-Dade’s Urban Conservation Unit (U.C.U.) for a day in the field visiting properties participating in Miami-Dade County’s Irrigation Rebate Program.

Front yard turf zone, circa 2011

Playing the classics

The final visit for the day was a home in Coral Gables, the City Beautiful. In 2011, this residence had rehabilitated its potable water irrigation system and installed a weather-based irrigation controller (WBIC). With a landscape that features mostly palms, shrubs and decorative stones, a seven zone irrigation system has no business at this location. In any case, the controller installation was rebated in 2011 and the homeowner asked the team to stop by to see if things were still on the up and up.

No longer on the up and up: Jesus Lomeli and a riser nozzle gone missing

A bit about WBICs

Once we realized where we were, U.C.U. tech Jesus and I had eyes big as saucers. Why? Two words: applied science. Weather-based irrigation controllers require very specific programming for each zone:

• soil type
• plant type
• shade factor
• sprinkler head type, etc.

All those factors are churning away in this little guy right here

The WBIC model at this location uses these factors along with weather data from an on-site weather sensor/tipping bucket rain gauge to calculate evapotranspiration (or ET). This ET value is then used to generate run times for each zone. When a landscape is designed with hydrozones in mind, much like this one with one turf zone and six tree or shrub zones, a weather-based controller can really work its magic.

Weather sensor: perfectly located and busy doing science 

So after a quick zone by zone wet-check to look for breaks or other problems, we dove into the controller’s “history” feature to track the watering events by date starting from January of this year.

#SIM2014

Smart irrigation month is an industry-fostered construct that promotes outdoor water-use efficiency during the month of July, the outdoor water-use peak in the calendar year. The Irrigation Association recommends a plethora of practices from design to technology that, if implemented, can reduce water-use while still maintaining a healthy landscape.

Tree canopy shade is real: front yard turf zone in 2014

Better living through tech

In the best of all possible worlds the property I'm discussing here would have no (or temporary) irrigation. There would be a colorful Florida-friendly groundcover in the shady front area, and all the remaining ornamental areas would continue to live off rain alone. 

Back yard rocky expanse: wait, what...

In this world, however, the weather-based controller was expertly managing water-use for this landscape – irrigating the lone turf zone regularly, and watering the other zones once a month, or once every few months. During especially rainy stretches, the system would not run for weeks. 

Some water-wise options from Ewing Irrigation

The takeaway
There is definitely room for improvement at this location - namely low-volume irrigation in the six tree/shrub zones - but the best decision this homeowner ever made for the landscape (and water bill) was installing a WBIC three years ago. This wasn't the first time Jesus and I had seen a weather-based controller save water this way, but it's the most recent, and on the cusp of smart irrigation month 2014, all the sweeter.

About the author: 

Michael Gutierrez is a water resources 
technician with UF/IFAS in the Ag & Bio 
Engineering Dept. He tweets, blogs and 
also shoots still and video media in South 
Florida, Gainesville and anywhere else a 
camera is handy. (image: Martha Golea)

Saving water...and winning awards

Around this time last month I had the opportunity to attend a Florida-Friendly Landscaping (FFL) in-service training (IST) in Gainesville. The event attracted many agents and master gardeners from across the state, and provided me a chance for some team-time with Miami-Dade County’s Urban Conservation Unit (UCU).

Miami-Dade County's FYN/UCU team: Jesus Lomeli and Laura Vasquez

The Miami model

Miami-Dade County’s FFL/UCU program is a Water and Sewer Department-funded entity that works within the UF/IFAS Cooperative Extension Office, promoting the FFL ethic for sustainability (via the nine principles and yard certifications) while also executing the county’s larger goal of water-use efficiency through incentive-based urban landscape irrigation retrofits and a rain barrel program.

UCU technician Jesus Lomeli in system assessment mode

During the IST’s strategizing session, many of the Extension agents in attendance commented that this is a different approach to the usual county FFL program structure. Is it a model that can be replicated in other counties, even at a smaller scale? There certainly are non-replicatable advantages to working in a large urban center where the water utility is under constant pressure to meet water conservation goals and is prepared to invest resources accordingly.

Removing irrigation and installing Florida-Friendly
plants is rebate-worthy in Miami-Dade 

How it works

What I find most effective about the program is that although there are three areas of focus, each one complements all the others. The rain barrel program promotes low-intensity rainwater harvesting and maintains a presence year-round with workshops throughout the county and regular teaching events with children in schools. 

Do you know the nine principles?

The FFL program consistently certifies yards as Florida-Friendly based on the nine principles (above) and sometimes consults with landscape architects integrating FFL into initial designs on new construction. And the irrigation rebate program is in the field almost daily assessing residential and large systems and making recommendations to improve efficiency, all of which also qualify for rebates. At every point of contact with the community, each area of focus promotes the others.

Thanks to the UCU and forward-thinking contractors, weather-based
irrigation timers like this one have a foothold in Miami-Dade

2014 NACo Achievement Award

This month the National Association of Counties awarded Miami-Dade’s FYN/UCU program with an achievement award in the category of Environmental Protection and Energy, one of only 24 programs recognized across the U.S. 

This is well-deserved recognition and I’m pleased to play a role in this team’s efforts for sustainability and conservation in South Florida.

About the author: 

Michael Gutierrez is a water resources 
technician with UF/IFAS in the Ag & Bio 
Engineering Dept. He tweets, blogs and 
also shoots still and video media in South 
Florida, Gainesville and anywhere else a 
camera is handy. (image: Jesus Lomeli)

In the crowd at SFLIS 2014: spring edition

For those of us in the urban landscape irrigation game, this month got off to an excellent start with the South Florida Landscape IrrigationSymposium in Miami-Dade.

The host venue: UF/IFAS Miami-Dade Extension Office in The Redland

A working partnership

A collaborative effort between Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County Extensions, the event packed in municipal groundskeepers and irrigation techs, roadside landscaping crews, arborists, some property managers and even a random biologist or two...

...everyone there for an update on the latest in water conservation thinking/practice from local and regional UF/IFAS experts, and CEUs from Allstate Resource Management.

Speaking of UF/IFAS experts: Dr. Michael Dukes and Dr. Kati Migliaccio in conference

What role does irrigation play in your work?

I can confidently attest to whom was there and why because I spent the better part of the event talking to attendees on camera. Many in the audience were interested in the latest irrigation equipment - on hand thanks to the sponsoring vendors.

Dr. Michael Dukes presents on smart irrigation technology ROI in Orange County 

One individual had sour experiences with soil moisture sensors and was especially keen on the smart irrigation presentations. And most others desired to learn as much as possible so as to better educate their clients about proper irrigation design and maintenance, and why it’s a sound investment.

All nozzle errthing: at the Hunter Industries display

Saving water my way

My favorite portion of the event was the “Success Story” panel.

The success panel (from left): Carlos Victoria, Terry Liddel and Donna Fries

This talk grouped together a property manager, an irrigation crew supervisor and a utility representative for a lively question and answer session that engaged the audience about not only the prevalence of water waste in most urban landscape systems, but also the possibility of turning the tide in favor of efficiency, especially in Miami-Dade, where the irrigation rebate program advances the smart irrigation and Florida-Friendly landscaping ethic with significant funding.

Dr. Kati Migliaccio talks weather-based irrigation controllers (WBICs)

Conservation never stops

If you were not able to attend the symposium, enjoy the video recap below courtesy of Miami-Dade’s Urban Conservation Unit.

The next symposium is scheduled for Broward County this fall. Stayed tuned to this blog for developing information, or follow IrriGator on twitter.

About the author: 

Michael Gutierrez is a water resources 
technician with UF/IFAS in the Ag & Bio 
Engineering Dept. He tweets, blogs and 
also shoots still and video media in South 
Florida, Gainesville and anywhere else a 
camera is handy. (image: Jesus Lomeli)

Volumetric water content and soil water potential

Volumetric water content and soil water potential (or tension/suction) are two measurements we use to determine irrigation needs.

Volumetric water content
Much research has been conducted on measuring volumetric water content by Professor Dr. Michael Dukes's group (UF/IFAS ABE) in an effort to improve irrigation scheduling. Volumetric water content is often estimated using soil moisture sensors (aka soil water sensors).

Two examples of commercially available soil moisture sensor technology.

View a soil moisture sensor video

Soil water tension
Research is also conducted using tenisometeric measurements, such as tensiometers.

Example of tensiometer for measuring soil water tension.

More on using tensiometers can be found in Dr. Kati Migliaccio's EDIS publication: Using Tensiometers for Vegetable Irrigation Scheduling in Miami-Dade County

Relating these measurements
The relationship between volumetric water content and soil water potential or tension is typically established using laboratory experiments. We recently developed a video demonstrating this laboratory process.

.

The laboratory experiment results are used to develop a curve that relates soil water potential to volumetric water content as is shown in the EDIS publication, Alternatives of Low Cost Soil Moisture Monitoring Devices for Vegetable Production in South Miami-Dade County developed by Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena (UF/IFAS ABE).

Register for more
If you are a UF graduate student and this topic interests you, be sure and register for the new graduate irrigation course ABE6933 that will be taught through distance education in the fall of 2014. Drs. Migliaccio (UF/IFAS ABE & TREC) and Dukes are developing the course and this will be one of several interesting topics they cover. A draft syllabus can be obtained by contacting either instructor.

Southeast Climate Consortium

The Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC) is a group of individuals from different institutions with a mission to develop partnerships and solutions for managing climate risks for agricultural and natural resources.

Spring Program Review
From May 7th to 9th (2014) the group met in Tallahassee and ideas were exchanged on agriculture, water, climate, and combinations thereof. It was an exciting meeting!

One member of the group that showed some interesting research was Dr. Clyde Fraisse who is a faculty member in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Florida.
  

Dr. Fraisse at the SECC meeting.

Jose Debastiani Andreis presented work from Dr. Fraisse's research group on different smartphone apps the group is developing. Get a closer look at his poster here.

Mr. Andreis with his poster at the SECC meeting.

While, Dr. Ana Wagner from Dr. Fraisse's research group presented new results on how different rainfall data compare. See Dr. Wagner's poster here.

Drs. Wagner and Migliaccio (ABE, UF) at the SECC meeting.

These projects were a collaborative effort from Drs. Fraisse, Migliaccio, Vellidis (UGA), and Morgan (SWS, UF). These programs relate directly or indirectly to irrigation. Dr. Wagner's project is related directly to irrigation as we assess different sources of rainfall data and how they could be used in developing irrigation schedules. The smartphone app projects also are related to irrigation as they help determine when to irrigate using real-time weather data.

If you are interested in learning about climate in relation to agriculture - be sure to visit AgroClimate which is an excellent source for information including forecasts, ENSO phase, risk, and crop tools.

2014 UF/IFAS Twilight Potato School - Irrigation

Great times were had at the recent Twilight Potato School!

Topics that were covered include sub-surface drip irrigation, seepage water table management and the UF variety trial. Here are a few images from the event:

Attendees tour the facility

Dr. Lincoln Zotarelli and a TDR soil moisture probe

Experimental potato varieties (for chip and fresh market) on display

Mark Warren of Flagler County Extension and Spectrum Technology probes in use

PhD candidate Libby Rens presents 2013 data from her seepage water table level study 

More information on potato irrigation research can be found on Dr. Zotarelli's website. More visuals from Libby Rens' seepage water table study can be found here.


Thanks to Dr. Dan Cantliffe and Dr. Bonnie Wells for providing all Twilight School images and materials!