About this Session

Irrigation Automation –Year 1: Evaluating On-Farm Irrigation Automation

Presented by: Dr. Drew Gholson
Assistant Professor/Irrigation Specialist, Delta Research & Extension Center

Water levels in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer continue to drop in the Mississippi Delta while irrigation acreage continues to increase. Adoption of irrigation conservation practices or Best Management Practices(BMPs)is imperative to help sustain our groundwater supplies. The Row-crop Irrigation Science Extension and Research (RISER) is an on-farm program that demonstrates to grower show irrigation water management (IWM) practices reduce irrigation water use up to 40% while improving profitability by $40/acre. In 2020, the RISER program began identifying and evaluating innovative sensor and automation technologies that can assist producers with improving their on-farm irrigation management strategies and scheduling. This session will look at one year of data assessing full automation in both furrow and rice AWD irrigation.

Full Automated Irrigation In Furrow Irrigated Crops

Presented by: Nick King
Mississippi Irrigation Consultant: Precision King

King is the President of Precision King Technology, and Precision King partnered with MSU this past growing season evaluating fully automated irrigation in corn, soybean and rice crops. The project was undertaken in 10 locations, with three locations in corn, two in soybeans and five in rice. He will be discussing the results and efficiencies of the project with Drew Gholson of MSU.

Nick is a second generation consultant whose father has operated a consulting firm for over 30 years. Nick operates an irrigation scheduling company, and he is the President of Precision King Technology. Nick is also the President of Jitney Pharmacies, where he and his wife own two community pharmacies in Mississippi. Nick’s real passion is drilling water wells in Africa in the non-profit Gracewater, of which he is the founder.