Tifton, GA |

It’s no secret that water is the most valuable commodity for the tens of thousands of farmers around Georgia. And with a drier than normal growing season in the forecast, having a reliable source from day one is essential to maximizing yield.

“If we get up and get to going and it’s dry like that, every day that we that lose, every day that we’re behind is another day that our crop’s losing yield potential. So, what we want to make sure is that we first have good uniformity on that system. And if we’ve not checked uniformity on that system in the past five years, we should really consider doing that. Once, you’re confident that the system’s uniform and doing well, then it’s time to make sure that we’re utilizing some sort of advanced irrigation scheduling to match the crop in that season, whether it’s the UGA checkbook, whether it’s the soil moisture sensor, or whether it’s some sort of irrigation scheduling app, etc. to match what we need during the season,” says Wes Porter, Extension Precision Ag.

Getting an early start on that troubleshooting is of utmost importance this year, after farmers saw an anything but mild winter.

“We had some unusually cooler weather this year in Georgia and in South Georgia, where we had days in the twenties that we normally don’t have. And even in the lower twenties as you move up the state. Maybe even temperatures in the teens. If we didn’t do a good job of draining those systems and getting all that water out, we probably are going to find some issues, residual from that cold temperature and those cold weather. So, we want to make sure that we can help address those now, prior to needing it on the crop,” says Porter.

As for those debating whether or not irrigation pivots are worth the investment, Porter says it all depends on your situation.

“It’s costly now. The prices of everything have went up, but it’s also costly when we have those episodic droughts that move in, and we lose your potential. And so, irrigation is still very valid and the investment in irrigation is worthwhile. You just maybe need to do some homework like this on system design, water source, dealer support, what tech package you want on it, etc. that will help you make that final decision,” says Porter.

If that decision is yes, then there are a number of factors that need to be considered before choosing which system to go with.

“Check water source first. Then go look at it and say, okay, what do I need? What crop am I going to be irrigating? How am I going to design it? What type of sprinklers do I want? Am I going to be doing fumigation or fertigation at all on it, etc? Do I want the remote monitor and control? And to me, what really goes back to, have three or four really good brands of center pivots that you can buy in the state of Georgia. You just need to go to your local dealer that works best in your area,” says Porter.

With how much these systems have developed over just the past decade, operating them has never been easier.

“I think one of the biggest advancements we have now is remote monitoring and control. We have other options on them, but really, a lot of our farmers have adopted a remote monitoring control because now we can see, ‘hey, I’ve started my system up. Is it still running all night?’ Because we can’t run systems in four hours and be done,” says Porter.

By: Damon Jones