Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Over 40% of freshwater in the United States is used for irrigation. With 58 million acres of irrigated cropland in the U.S.,(1) that’s a lot of water, 137,000 Mgal/d(2) (million gallons of water) to be exact.
Proper Irrigation is non-negotiable for farmers and it can potentially be one of their largest expenses. Making small changes to improve irrigation efficiency and effectiveness may lead to long-term cost savings and higher crop production year-over-year.(3)
Over the past 30 years, many farmers have been converting to pressurized irrigation systems because they give the farmer more control of when and how much water is applied to the crops and reduces their cost of labor.(4) According to USDA, in 2018 almost 30 million acres of farmland had pressurized systems, like pivot irrigation systems (pivot), and a little over 10 million acres still used gravity systems(5).
It’s crucial to give crops the proper amount of water, and pivots can help a farmer be more precise when irrigating. Giving crops the right amount of water is important because heavily overwatered soil cannot absorb the water properly. This leads to waterlogged soil, which kills the essential microorganisms that give their excess nutrients to plants(6) and cuts off the air supply to the crop’s roots(7). Whereas underwatering allows the soil’s temperature to increase which affects the microbial activities and nutrient processing within the soil, harming the plant(8).
So, unless the irrigation level falls into a certain range, there’s a risk of harming the soil and ultimately the crop.
One way to increase irrigation efficiency and effectiveness is controlling the water flow within the pivot remotely. NAE designs and builds our custom irrigation panels with this in mind.
Our custom irrigation panels can connect to other third-party remote-control systems that control the water flow within the pivot and can even integrate with third-party soil health monitoring interfaces.
Combining NAE’s custom irrigation panel with third-party remote-control software can give farmers an edge to adjust to weather conditions this season and also allows them to shut the equipment off immediately when there is a mechanical issue, preventing further damage. Farmers who have this capability are likely to save water, money and reduce downtime.
Contact NAE today for a quote on a custom Irrigation VFD Motor Control panel.
View all of our Agriculture and Irrigation products at this link.
NAE stocks motor and motor control inventory in multiple warehouses across the US. We provide some of the fastest quotes in the industry and can ship catalog items in as little as 24-hours. Contact our team today for any quote or information you may need.
sales@naemotors.com or (800) 884-0404
North American Electric, Inc. is a wholesale supplier of electric motors, controls and shaft mount gear reducers. We offer high-quality products, competitive pricing and same-day shipping for in-stock items. NAE is committed to making motors and motor controls easy for our distributors.
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