Frost, PLLC: Specialists in Irrigation District Accounting
Irrigation districts have distinctive tax and accounting requirements. Many are small special districts organized under state statute that are required to use governmental accounting standards and require audits that are performed under governmental auditing standards, even though their operations work on something more similar to a commercial fee-for-service model. Auditing firms that focus either on […]
Teaching Through TAPS, UNL’s Performance Competition
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s (UNL) Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) program is an alternative to traditional, classroom-based extension programs. It is based around a series of farm-management competitions in which teams get to make a number of management decisions on test plots and then see how they play out in yield, input-use efficiency, and profitability. […]
From Sensors to Knowledge Products: Sentek Technologies
Sentek Technologies is an Australia-based irrigation solutions company active around the world. While sensor technology is its mainstay, Sentek’s broader offerings fall into the category of knowledge products. Knowledge products include data analysis and recommendations that help answer substantive questions like how deep to irrigate or how to space one’s crops. In this interview, Sentek […]
Northern Water: Water Supply on a Grand Scale
Northern Water works on a grand scale: It collects water from snowmelt on the Western Slope of the Continental Divide and sends it through tunnels to supply agriculture, municipalities, and industry in an area of northeastern Colorado as large and populous as the state of Delaware. To do this, it relies on a system of […]
AgForestry Leadership Class 41
Washington State’s AgForestry Leadership program is an 18‑month course that helps professionals in agriculture, forestry and natural resources build their industry knowledge, learn leadership and communications skills, and connect with peers across the state. The program consists of 11 seminars held across the state on topics including government, economics, international trade, communication, water issues, media […]
Mark Wagoner: Overcoming Challenges in Gardena Farms Irrigation District
The Gardena Farms Irrigation District (GFID) is one of the oldest irrigation districts in Washington State, and one that faces particular challenges. A 1936 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows Oregon water users to use as much water from the Walla Walla River as they want, leaving little for irrigators north of the border. This problem […]
How SePRO Helps Districts Develop Algae and Water Quality Strategies
SePRO is a research-based life sciences company that is a leader in aquatic vegetation and algae management for irrigation canals. It produces a number of well-known aquatic herbicides and algaecides, like Sonar, Clearcast, Nautique, and Captain XTR. Beyond its products, SePRO prizes its ability to establish close relationships with irrigation districts, understand their problems, and […]
Metomotion’s Robotic Tomato Harvester
Metomotion is an Israeli company that has brought together robotics, mechanical design, and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop an autonomous robotic platform that can automatically harvest tomatoes grown in greenhouses, saving significantly on operational and labor costs. Having attracted funding from governmental and corporate sources in Israel and Europe, it plans to begin selling its […]
CropX’s Do-It-Yourself Soil Sensor
CropX is an Israeli ag tech firm that aims to provide farmers with reliable data from below the ground in addition to other data layers. Its do-it-yourself soil sensors can be installed by a farmer in about 5 minutes, and it uses cloud-based software to create a comprehensive picture of the condition of a field—even […]
How Kibbutz Hatzerim Helped Pioneer Drip Irrigation
Kibbutz Hatzerim was founded in 1946 in Israel’s southern Negev Desert. Initially dedicated exclusively to agriculture, the community eventually decided to search for a business or industry to branch out into. At the same time, engineer Simcha Blass was searching for a partner to help commercialize the technology he had just invented: drip irrigation. In […]