Irrigated agriculture plays a key role in food production. However, agriculture, as it is practiced today, is responsible for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals in the world, according to FAO. With the growing population, the need for food production will be higher, as well as the need for a lot more water. FAO estimates that global water demand for agriculture is expected to increase by 35% by 2050.

To address this challenge, the key is to make agriculture irrigation systems more productive and less damaging for the planet, which means producing more food while using less water, building the resilience of farming communities to cope with floods and droughts, and applying clean water technologies that protect the environment.

Sustainable water management for farmers means managing water they have access to for its best and highest use but also considering their ecosystem and future water needs. Improving water productivity in agriculture is essential and includes a thorough monitoring of water usage efficiency.

AGRIVI Farm Management Software offers comprehensive solutions for sustainable and efficient water management. This data-driven solution helps farmers monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their irrigation system, ensuring optimal water utilization. By incorporating advanced data tracking and analysis, AGRIVI empowers growers to make informed decisions that have a positive impact on both their crops and the environment.

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Since the dawn of agro-ecosystems nearly 10,000 years ago, farmers have had to compete with other organisms — namely insect pests, pathogens, weeds and wildlife— to ensure food security. These “biotic” (i.e. living) causes of crop loss can be just as harmful as “abiotic” (i.e. nonliving) stressors such as drought, extreme temperatures, nutrient deficiencies, and high or low irradiance, often working in tandem to substantially limit crop production.

Such crop losses can be curtailed through various pest management strategies, which range from chemical and physical controls to biological and cultural strategies. The article that follows explores the relationship between pests and crop yield losses, as well as solutions to minimize pest impacts.

Crop loss assessments summarize the difference between the attainable yield of a healthy crop and the actual yield of a diseased crop, helping farmers identify the necessity of an intervention, often in economic terms.

In the absence of crop protection, yield losses of up to 70% can occur across many major food crops, with weeds accounting for the highest losses at 30%, followed by animal pests and pathogens at 23% and 17%, respectively. On average, pests account for 20-40% of yield losses worldwide, costing the global economy a combined $290 billion, according to the FAO.

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Organic farming is getting more and more popular as a farm practice. Although most agricultural land is still processed through conventional farming, the demand for organic agriculture and organic crops is constantly increasing. The following article reveals the answers to some common questions regarding organic farming, including its general definition, background, principles, practices of organic producers, and pros and cons.

There are many different definitions of organic farming. Most of them claim that organic farming excludes synthetically compounded fertilizers and pesticides. This is correct; however, organic farming is much more than that. As a completely natural and sustainable farm management practice, organic farming is based on unique values. In other words, organic farming is not only a farm practice but also a philosophy of working together with nature.

As a holistic farm management approach, organic farming aims to create a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable food production system. More precisely, organic farming is based on managing agroecosystem rather than relying on external farming inputs, such as pesticides, artificial fertilizers, additives, and genetically modified organisms.

In other words, organic farming involves the use of traditional farm practices in combination with advanced scientific research and modern farm innovations. For example, using manuring and biological soil disinfestation instead of synthetic fertilizers. Organic farmers are true lifesavers who work hard to grow healthy and nutritious crops. Additional responsibility for them is to maintain or enhance the most important natural resources while practicing sustainable agriculture for future generations.

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Sprinkler irrigation was initially invented for home lawn care and garden water use. Even today, the rhythmic ‘chk-chk-chk’ sound of an impact sprinkler is iconoclastic of hot summer days, green lawns, and children playfully cooling off in lawn sprinklers.

But while spray irrigation technology was originally about personal use, it is such helpful technology that it was rapidly adopted into agriculture as one of the most common types of irrigation systems. Farmers quickly recognized the advantages of reliable, high-pressure water delivery for their watering systems.

So, what do farmers today need to know when it comes to sprinkler irrigation systems?

Sprinkler irrigation is any irrigation that uses a pressurized system to apply water in a method that mimics rainfall to the soil surface.

Water is delivered to a farmer’s fields through a network of pipes or hoses, and the water is usually pressurized using a pumping system. Irrigation sprinkler systems may be temporary, movable or permanent.

In the United States, nearly 4.4 million acres are irrigated via some method of spray, aka sprinkler irrigation, not including center pivot or micro-spray irrigation, according to the 2018 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report “Sprinkler Irrigation in the Fields and Open.”

Sprinkler irrigation is widely used because it is versatile, adaptable to almost all crops, and affordable. But it’s not a perfect irrigation system. Spray irrigation is one of the most inefficient watering methods, wasting approximately 30 to 50% of the water applied through run-off and evaporation. Only flood irrigation is a more potentially inefficient method of irrigation crops, whereas systems like drip irrigation and sub-irrigation use much less water to achieve effective application rates.

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