There National Land Reclamation and Irrigation Week, organized by ANBI, reminds us of something that those who work in the agricultural sector know well: Without careful water management, Italian agriculture has no future.
THE Land Reclamation Consortia they preside for over a century a complex hydraulic system, made up of canals, pumping plants, expansion tanks and irrigation networks that protect the territory and bring water where it is needed. But the climate picture of recent years – marked by prolonged droughts alternating with intense and concentrated rainfall – he raised the bar.
It is no longer enough to distribute thewaterfallIt needs to be distributed in right time and in the correct quantity.
This is where the game is played one of the most important challenges of the next decade, and it is also the point where Reclamation and precision agriculture show all their natural complementarity.
Land reclamation and precision agriculture, a natural alliance
For a long time these two worlds have been described as separateOn the one hand the large hydraulic infrastructures and the collective management of the resource; on the other hand the digital technologies to support business decisions.
Actually, they both answer the same question: How to ensure that every cubic meter of water generates maximum agronomic, environmental and economic value.
The Consortia distribute the water, the farmers use it. But if the downstream withdrawal continues to be based on pre-established calendars or on consolidated habits, even in the face of efficient distribution a part of the collective effort is wasted.
When instead every company water only when really needed and in the quantities needed, the entire system – consortium and productive – it works better.
How much water is needed and when?
A crop's water needs aren't constant. They vary day by day depending on:
• temperature, humidity, wind and solar radiation, which determine evapotranspiration
• soil texture, which influences the amount of water available to the roots
• phenological stage of the culture
• weather events recent and expected
Decide when and how much to water looking at the calendar, or waiting for the first visible signs of stress, almost always means intervene too late or in excessIn the first case there is a risk production losses, in the second water is wasted, energy And nutrients.
The good news is that today These calculations can be performed with great precision, without installing any devices in the field.
TETHYS Aqua, irrigation advice based on satellite data
In this context it fits Aqua, the service developed by TETHYS for support irrigation management through the daily calculation of the crop water balance.
The system integrates satellite images, professional meteorological data And soil information For accurately estimate how much water is really necessary to each plot. In this way the DSS provides a personalized irrigation advice, built on the crop characteristics, of the soil And of the distribution system.
One of the most relevant aspects of Aqua is the ability to operate entirely remotely, without the need for sensors, probes or control units to be installed in the field. This allows apply the service continuously even on large surfaces and in complex territorial contexts, minimizing operational constraints.
The approach allows to obtain concrete benefits both from technical point of view both from the economic one. In several application cases, the use of Aqua has allowed us to achieve water savings up to 40%, with positive effects also on energy consumption and on pumping costs.
With a cost of a few euros per hectare per year, Aqua also represents a accessible solution also for medium-sized companies, cooperatives and Land Reclamation Consortia which they intend to introduce large-scale precision irrigation tools.
The challenge of saving water concerns the entire supply chain
The National Week of Land Reclamation and Irrigation therefore becomes an opportunity to remember that The country's water security cannot be guaranteed solely through infrastructure, but also by making every link in the chain smarter, from the consortium network to the individual plot.
In this context, precision agriculture represents one concrete tool to transform the work of the Consortia into measurable agronomic value, preventing the water brought into the field from being used in a suboptimal way.
With Aqua, TETHYS provides agronomists, agricultural companies, cooperatives and Consortia with a mature technology, accessible and already operational.
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