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Have peace of mind knowing that we will manage your irrigation without compromising vineyard
or orchard health or crop yield while we reduce your water bill by 25% or more.
Have peace of mind knowing that we will manage your irrigation without compromising vineyard or orchard health or crop yield while we reduce your water bill by 25% or more.
We install an award-winning, low-cost soil moisture monitoring system in your vineyard or orchard that delivers precision irrigation.
Using computer systems, we determine when to start and stop irrigating, and for how long to keep optimal soil moisture level to produce better fruit quality and yield.
We improve irrigation accuracy with wireless automation, and remotely check the amount of water applied.
By improving irrigation accuracy, 25% saving of water use was achieved over two growing seasons in a 10 acre vineyard.
Most commercially available systems are only economically feasible for large farms, leaving smaller growers without options to improve their water use.
The solution is designed specifically to meet the requirements of vineyard and orchard operations between 1 and 10 acres.
We start by doing a geophysical survey to characterize the near surface soils down to 9 feet. That enables us to understand uniformed soil areas and where to position the soil sensors to define a correct plan for precision irrigation. We use electromagnetic terrain conductivity and ground penetrating radar surveys to map the vineyard or orchard.
Once we have mapped the vineyard or orchard, we install our Internet-based soil sensors in the active root zone and measure everything from soil texture to soil moisture and temperature.
An Arduino Pro single-board computer transmits data from the soil sensors to the Internet over a Low Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) gateway. Using LoRa, a license-free, long-range wireless technology, we can connect up to 300 sensor stations at a time across a 6 miles radius. All components are FCC approved.
Each sensor station is designed for continuous unattended operation, and is powered by a small solar panel. The battery charger keeps the battery fully charged to keep the system working during the night and during periods with dense cloud cover. It has a built-in power switch that delivers power to active sensors, saving power by activating the sensors only when a measurement is taken.
An artificial intelligence system developed by UC Davis, and programmed in the free Python programming language environment, is used to calculate the exact amount of water needed per vine based on local weather-station data and daily evapotranspiration data
One single controller can support up to five irrigation valves. Common practice in vineyard and orchard management is to water only once a week. But our system can water every day and within specific time period to give the plants a better chance to pick up all the moisture and replace.
Our computer system constantly monitor evapotranspiration and soil moisture, and can tell us when to start irrigating, as well as allowing us to remotely control the irrigation valves. The system will automatically turn off the irrigation valves when the optimal soil moisture levels have been reached to save water and produce better fruit quality and yield.
The precise data also allow us to practice regulated deficit irrigation, to “stress” the vines during the setting period, and produce more concentrate fruit without killing the vine.
Approximately 70% of the world’s available drinking water is used by agriculture.
Therefore, it makes sense to consider technology for optimizing agricultural water use.
According to The Economist, we are in a water crisis. A third of the world’s biggest groundwater systems are in danger of drying out. People living under severe water stress are expected to climb to as many as 3.2 billion by 2050, or 5.7 billion taking seasonal variation into account. And they will not just be in poor countries (see map). United States will also endure severe water shortage in the future.
The best way to solve the world’s water woes is to use less of it. For the world to reduce its use of water, the most obvious area in which to look for savings is where most water goes: agriculture.
In 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which sets forth the mission that groundwater resources be managed sustainable for long-term reliability. Regulations will be fully implemented throughout the state by 2022, and there is little doubt that regulations will have a significant impact. Farmers may be required to adhere to a plan designed to recharge the aquifer 1:1 for each gallon of water used in irrigation.
There are still a lot of details we don’t know, but, what we do know is the days of inexpensive water and laissez faire irrigation policies are at an end.
For my whole life I’ve wanted to change the world for the better, and after taking classes like Environmental Science, I came to understand how important and vital it is to keep resources, like water, sustainable. I have had the opportunity to experience the beauty of Earth, and so, maintaining it became my main goal. I started Watever, Inc. to try and tackle the problem of overusing and misusing water in the irrigation of plants, specifically in vineyards and orchards, and I hope to expand Watever, Inc. to tackle this problem throughout the world. While it may be a small step in the right direction, I believe it takes many small steps to make such an impact.
Joseph Bruun-Jensen
Founder and CEO
If you would like to know more about our
Water Management as a Service, please contact us.
