Irrigation

In 2011, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) launched an initiative aimed at improving the efficiency of center pivot irrigation. The solution was envisioned to be an integrated irrigation system with diverse components that could easily exchange information that would support data-driven irrigation decisions. The challenge was that the various system components were developed by…

Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) and Variable Speed Irrigation (VSI) applications require accurate maps of soil water-holding capacity as inputs to the applied water prescription generation process. Thus, determining accurate soil variability information and conducting soil mapping are necessary steps toward successful implementation of precision irrigation.2 These accuracy requirements are typically not satisfied by freely-available soil…

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) launched the Agricultural Irrigation Initiative with the goal of reducing agricultural irrigation energy use by twenty percent by 2020  NEEA is an alliance funded by more than 140 utilities and energy efficiency organizations in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington working to accelerate the innovation and adoption of energy-efficient products,…

This report is designed as a companion to the other reports in the series based on the activities in the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s (NEEA’s) Agricultural Irrigation Initiative. NEEA is an alliance funded by more than 140 utilities and energy efficiency organizations in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington working to accelerate the innovation and adoption…

As water becomes increasingly scarce, agricultural management of this precious resource becomes ever more critical. Maximizing performance of agricultural land and minimizing the use of water and other resources, such as energy, requires optimal use of new irrigation technologies such as Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI).

Growers using center pivot irrigation delivery systems generally schedule irrigation based on the driest ten percent of a field. While this approach meets crop water requirements for most areas, it can overwater others. The challenge of uniformly meeting crop water requirements is compounded when the amount of water applied by the center pivot’s sprinklers varies…

This report provides a basic introduction to and overview of center pivot systems, including key components of the system and basic interconnections among components. 

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) is an alliance funded by more than 140 Northwest utilities and energy efficiency organizations in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington working to accelerate the innovation and adoption of energy-efficient products, services, and practices in the Northwest. 

Market adoption of precision irrigation practices and technologies requires acceptance and use by growers within the contexts of their farm operations and agronomic practices. While these technologies offer the promise of improved yield and corresponding savings in energy and water costs, they also come with the burden of time and effort for the growers to…