Steps to keep irrigation costs down

Check the soil every day and sample the amount of moisture. Now that the plots are still wet practically everywhere, no one will think about that. With the rain in January and March, the starting position of the moisture stock is good and to keep costs low it is now even more important to use this stock as optimally as possible. What are the right choices? AgroExact helps with that. At least, that is what arable farmer Arjan de Graaf and Crop Advisor Berit Herman of Alliance agree on.

"We always say to our customers: if you are in the field and see that the plant is dry, then we are already too late. The crop has already experienced a period of stress due to drought at the expense of the growth. The advantage of working with AgroExact sensors in combination with the application is that irrigation is done on time."

Arjan de Graaf now has three growing seasons of experience with the soil moisture sensors. "While you are in the field with the tractor, you can simply see how the soil moisture is in your potatoes on your phone. On the page on the app you can see exactly what the state of the soil is, with clear irrigation advice linked to it in color. Based on that, you can decide your own action."

For example, De Graaf mainly focuses on trying to save on irrigation. "Irrigation costs diesel and labour, if you skip a turn you have already earned back the sensor. And I'm not even talking about the better growth due to the optimal moisture management."

Herman often sees that fewer millimeters need to be irrigated at a time. "If you get there earlier, you often have to irrigate less millimeters to prevent drought stress, without having to come back sooner."

The combination of the sensor's accuracy and user-friendly advice was rated by Wageningen University last year as the highest of all tested soil moisture sensors, while the price is relatively low. "Irrigate once less and the sensor has already paid for itself twice." Look at here more information about the soil moisture sensors.