In Western Australia, cooperation between a team from the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) and computer programmers, has led to the creation of a new and free phone app. This app, Irrigate WA, has been developed to help West Australian farmers schedule watering time, volume and duration.
The app uses real-time data from 136 weather stations across the state to provide specific scheduling information to individual farms.
James Dee a project manager from DAFWA who has been working on the app, said it was an area where farmers needed assistance.
"Irrigation scheduling is actually quite complex as it is dependent on understanding how much water the plants are transpiring, how much water is actually stored in the root zone of the plants and how effectively your root zone is storing water," Mr Dee said.
Irrigate WA can assist irrigation farmers by calculating the plant water use for each crop and allowing farmers to track overall water use.
Mr Dee said the app was designed with broad appeal and can be used alongside any irrigated fruit or vegetable crop.
The app is currently available to be downloaded, however, initially farmers need to register through the DAFWA website.
Source: abc.net.au