Orchard managers ran irrigation pumps on fixed weekly time schedules. Varied soil textures across blocks resulted in over-saturation in low-lying areas and drought stress on sandy knolls, reducing nut sizing and wasting expensive agricultural water allocations.
Engineering an IoT Soil Moisture and Variable-Rate Irrigation Platform for Tree Nut Orchards
A commercial almond and walnut grower operating three thousand acres of orchards sought to optimize water usage and reduce pumping electricity expenses.
Challenge
Solution
FlipWorks built an IoT telemetry and automated irrigation management platform. Soil moisture probes and pressure sensors deployed across orchard blocks transmit data via LoRaWAN gateways. The software calculates soil water tension curves and automatically modulates variable-rate valve manifolds to deliver precise water volume per block.
Result
- Automated precision irrigation scheduling based on real-time soil moisture tension readings.
- Reduced agricultural water pumping electricity costs by eliminating over-irrigation cycles.
- Improved crop yield uniformity across orchard blocks with variable soil types.