Past Webinars
Did you miss it? Order past webinars below (Member $35 | Nonmember $50).
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020
Irrigation Technology & the Future of Farming | 1 CEU
In the middle of the 20th century, forward thinkers envisioned flying cars, a dream that hasn’t happened yet. They seldom addressed what farming would look like years down the road. When considering the future of farming, you probably think about self-driving tractors, but you’re thinking shouldn’t stop there. Fully autonomous pivots and completely connected crop management are closer than you realize. The goal of agriculture — and especially irrigation — is to produce greater yields with fewer inputs. But what does that mean? For starters, it means less water, lower energy bills and decreased labor costs, not to mention an improved quality of life. As machines located in fields for decades, center pivots are uniquely positioned to become data hubs and drive a revolution in artificial intelligence and machine learning to take data from reactive to predictive.
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020
Valve Applications for Mechanized Irrigation | 1 CEU
Presenter: Gene A. Ross, PE, CID, Vice President, Global Mechanized Irrigation, Nelson Irrigation Corporation
This webinar will present real-world examples of new technology in common valve applications in the mechanized irrigation industry that will increase efficiency and reliability for the grower.
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020
Solar Pumping Basics | 1 CEU
Presenter: Tom Drew, Technical Sales Manager, Grundfos Pumps
This webinar will look at the projected growth of the solar market, types of pumping systems and components that operate with solar arrays, as well as some general details in sizing solar-powered pumping systems, wiring and system maintenance.
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020
Irrigation Design Webinar | 1 CEU
Presenter: Graham Hutchinson, CID, Sales Manager – Latin America, Nelson Irrigation Corporation
Learn about the tools that can make irrigation designs more efficient and accurate. This webinar will cover why irrigation designers need these tools and how the software is used to quickly obtain site information, lay out irrigation systems, design within user-specified hydraulic parameters, and create plans, drawings and bills of materials.
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020
How Irrigation Automation & Telemetry Help Save Water | 1 CEU
Presenter: Darryl Hadlich, Marketing & Customer Experience Specialist, Wiseconn Engineering Inc.
This webinar will prove the water savings from season to season within permanent crops such as almonds. Attendees will get to see how a large farm management company was able to save water and irrigate the way they always wanted to by focusing on the importance of soil moisture readings, “listening” to their trees and utilizing the convenience and simplicity of automation. You will see how this can be applied to any grower’s operation.
Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020
Managing Nebraska’s Irrigation Water Use in the Cloud | 1 CEU
Presenter: James Schneider, PhD, Senior Scientist, Olsson
The Twin Platte Natural Resources District manages the use of groundwater for irrigation of approximately 320,000 acres in central Nebraska. They have embarked on an ambitious water data project that will leverage multiple cloud-based platforms and a state-of-the-art data communication network, collecting data on water use and water levels and evaluating water use and water supply automatically. Water managers will automatically receive updates on the status of water supplies and water uses, allowing for real-time water management decisions that historically took years to make and implement. For the first time both the irrigators and water managers in the TPNRD will have their finger on the pulse of the aquifer, being able to continuously monitor and adjust based on current data and information, marking a true paradigm shift from reactive to proactive water management.
Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020
Sustainability of Irrigated Agriculture in the Central Valley of California | 1 CEU
Presenter: Isaya Kisekka, PhD, Associate Professor, University of California Davis
The Central Valley of California is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world due to its fertile soils, Mediterranean climate and water distribution infrastructure, but long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Central Valley is threatened by several factors. A number of policies have been enacted to mitigate these factors and ensure conservation of natural resources and economic prosperity of the region. However, for growers to be compliant with the regulations while remaining profitable requires adoption of advanced management practices and technologies. Findings from case studies applying these technologies in various crops grown in the Central Valley will be presented. Overall, sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Central Valley of California will depend on building partnerships between growers, coalitions, regulators and other stakeholders including environmental justice groups.
Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021
Sustainable Irrigation: An Integrated Approach | 1 CEU
Presenter: Jake LaRue, PE, Ag Technology Consultant, Valmont Industries Inc.
With the changing elements of agriculture and a growing population to feed, mechanized irrigation for water use efficiency and sustainability is becoming more important for global food production and grower economics. Many tools are available to determine soil, crop and environmental conditions, generating large amounts of data. A grower can be overwhelmed with how to manage this data, how to apply it to their situation, and the necessary tools to truly improve their water use efficiency and help insure sustainability. Mechanized irrigation has long been challenged by the industry to provide an integrated and strategic approach, combining rich available data with advanced mechanized control technology.
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021
Power Quality & Pumps ... Is Your Power Killing Your Pumps? | 1 CEU
Presenter: Alan Bixler, Sr. Technical Sales Manager, Grundfos Pumps
This webinar will discuss electrical power quality as it relates to pumps and motors. We will explore potential power issues and how they affect pump performance and the life span of the pump motor. Learn the proper way to calculate the voltage and current asymmetry and the proper method to balance the available power on a three-phase installation. Participants will learn how to detect power anomalies and potentially how to correct them. In this presentation we will also cover motor protection devices that can provide a level of protection from these power issues. Finally, we will discuss how telemetry can be used to monitor power at an installation.
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021
SDI-E — Maximizing Profit & Nutrient Utilization Including Dairy Effluent for Corn, Wheat and Alfalfa Production With Drip Irrigation Systems as a Nutrient Delivery Method | 1 CEU
Panelists: Ladi Asgill, Senior Agronomist, Sustainable Conservation; John Cardoza, Senior Product Manager, Sustainable Conservation; Richard Mayo, CFO, DeJager Dairy; Nate Ray, General Manager, DeJager Farms; Domonic Rossini, Agronomic Relationship Manager, Netafim USA. Moderator: Ryan Flaherty, Director of Business Partnerships, Sustainable Conservation
Adoption of drip systems, not only for irrigation but as a nutrient delivery tool, continues to demonstrate an attractive ROI across the United States. Row crop producers are finding that their ability to manage timing of nutrients and water awards the benefit of a significant increase to their bottom line. In the past four years, subsurface drip irrigation for effluent (SDI-E) has proven to be a more sustainable and profitable method for concentrated animal feeding operations to dispose of lagoon water and reduce commercial fertilizer costs. This webinar includes a panel of industry researchers and leading growers that are using SDI-E in their farming operations to increase yields, water and nutrient efficiency, and profitability, as well as create a more environmentally sustainable operation. They will discuss nutrient application strategies and irrigation management practices in detail and show how that results in an attractive ROI on drip systems.
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021
Precise Irrigation With Actionable Insights From Satellites | 1 CEU
Presenter: Aadith Moorthy, CEO, ConserWater Technologies
Farm-level satellite data has been available for decades, but it has often been in forms that are not easily translatable into actions a farmer must take on the farm. Usually, the data requires expert analysis and additional calibrations specific to local contexts for agronomical insights to be derived. This is changing fast due to the growing number of satellites imaging the earth with frequencies as high as daily and resolutions up to three feet. In addition, advancements in related fields, such as artificial intelligence, have made it possible to correlate the readings of satellites with measurable quantities on the farm level. These quantities are often resolved up to a few yards on a farm, and they range from soil moisture and nutrient levels to the prevalence of various pests and diseases. This webinar will summarize these advancements and guide manufacturers, contractors, dealers and consultants on how to start taking advantage of these technologies and incorporate them into their product offerings to save 30% or more on water, fertilizer and electricity for their clients.
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021
Pumping System Audit Identifies $19kPa Electricity Saving | 1 CEU
Presenter: Robert Welke, Dip. Mech. Eng., CIAg, CIAL, Managing Director/Training, Tallemenco Pty. Ltd.
Pumping system audits can identify huge operating cost savings for farmers, but pumping system audits involve more than just testing the pump. This case study will present the significant savings realized from upgrades to the pumping and distribution systems that resulted in an ROI of 2.4 years on the capital improvements.
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021
TPNRD Water Data Program | 1 CEU
Presenter: Billy Tiller, CEO, GiSC
The Twin Platte Natural Resources District manages groundwater resources in an area around North Platte, Nebraska. A collaborative effort that was irrigator initiated is changing the landscape of how to gather water data for use in more accurate groundwater assessment and management. TPRND partnered with GiSC, a grower-owned data cooperative, to build the TPNRD-Water Data Program based around smart water meters at every irrigation well. It is a large-scale collaborative effort with TPNRD, GiSC, electric providers in the district, Olsson Civil Engineering, Paige Wireless and irrigators to make this happen. It is an opportunity for irrigators to tell their story and for TPNRD to gather the most extensive set of real-time pumping data ever accumulated utilizing IoT devices.
Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021
Leveraging IoT for Ag Data | 1 CEU
Presenter: Diganta D. Adhikari, PhD, Head of On-Farm IoT, Syngenta
To feed a predictable world population of 9.9 billion by 2050, an increase of more than 25% from the current 2020 population of 7.8 billion, food production will need to be increased significantly. In addition to population growth, food production will have to meet the demands of swelling urban sprawls, increased income levels and continued use of crops for bioenergy and other industrial purposes. To achieve this projected growth target in food production, agriculture will have to rely on technology more than ever. Technology has already been integrated into farming methods to make farming more efficient. For example, farming is relying on sensors to trace, detect and diagnose issues with soils, crop, livestock, machinery, etc. Likewise, remote sensing and precision agriculture is already augmenting farm inputs. Still, these technologies might not be enough, and we will need to explore additional tools and techniques to become more efficient. It is therefore vital that we think of ways in which this could be possible. The Internet of Things could be that catalytic agent that could make some of these existing technologies even more efficient. An IoT platform will allow for various devices in the field to exchange data “efficiently” and “economically” so that near real-time recommendations and prescriptions could be generated.
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021
Testing Ag Performance Solutions in the Oklahoma Panhandle | 1 CEU
Presenter: Jason Warren, Extension Specialist, Oklahoma State University – Plant & Soil Sciences
The testing ag performance solutions (TAPS) project involves producers in research by applying their management decisions to replicated plots of irrigated corn. It allows producers to select the corn hybrid, population, pre-plant N rate, fertigation rates of N and irrigation water application. Commercial decision support tools such as soil moisture probes, plant growth sensors and aerial imagery are provided to participants to aid in their decision-making. This provides an opportunity for service providers to demonstrate their products in an interactive demonstration. The goal of the project is to maximize efficiency and profitability, instead of simply maximizing yield. The project allows producers an opportunity to try techniques to maximize efficiency without risking income on their own farms and an opportunity to compare the results of their management to others. The research outcomes are unique because treatments are developed by participants based on their expertise and experience. Therefore, it does not limit the possible management scenarios to the intellectual curiosity of the researcher. It also provides an unbiased assessment of decision support tools as used remotely by actual producers.
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Irrigation Technology Management & Scheduling | 1 CEU
Presenter: Steven R. Evett, Research Soil Scientist, USDA ARS Conservation & Production Research Laboratory
Advances for effective irrigation management are increasingly enabled by unattended data acquisition using Internet of Things approaches. These approaches combine advanced sensors and wireless data transmission to automatically and transparently convey field data to the internet. Users, either human or machine, then can access and act upon the data from nearly anywhere in the world. Particularly in the case of machines automatically acting on the data, robustness, reliability and accuracy of data are crucial to preventing unintended outcomes of machine operations and continued supply of key services. Low cost, low power and solar-powered systems are important to enable market entry of advanced decision support systems based on IoT data acquisition approaches. This presentation will focus on emerging IoT sensor technologies and their use in a decision support system for variable rate center pivot irrigation to improve crop water productivity.
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Efficient Irrigation to Produce Cannabinol From Hemp | 1 CEU
Presenter: Clinton C. Shock, PhD, Managing Partner, Medicinal Botanical Seed
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) grown for cannabinol (CBD) is a relatively new and rapidly expanding crop. The irrigation criteria requirements to maximize hemp bud yield and cannabinoid contents have not been established. In 2018 we observed hemp production yield losses in Oregon from both excessive and insufficient irrigation. In 2019 we evaluated four progressively drier irrigation onset criteria for drip-irrigated hemp with four replicates. Water use, plant heights, nutrient status, nutrient uptake and bud cannabinoid content were measured over time. Bud yield and cannabinoid content results at harvest were used to estimate water use efficiency for cannabinol production.
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Microirrigation Issues & Common Treatment Programs | 1 CEU
Presenter: Yancey Brumfield, Regional Manager (Oregon), CH2O Inc.
As many irrigation systems are being converted over to a microirrigation framework, and with the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act, farms are now seeing issues that have not surfaced in the past. This leads to potential losses in crop production/recalls of product from either plugging, biofilms and/or diseases. We will discuss how to mitigate or eliminate these potential issues revolving around microirrigation systems.