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 […]
Uri Shani: N-Drip’s Revolutionary Drip Line
Inefficient irrigation methods waste huge amounts of water around the world, but up until now, transitioning to more efficient methods like drip irrigation has involved expensive pressure and filtration equipment and expenditures on energy. The Israeli company N-Drip is helping resolve this problem with a new kind of drip line that requires neither pressure nor […]
Enforcing Washington’s Screening Requirements Through Cooperative Compliance
Water diverters in Washington State may know that fish screening is required by law, but they may not understand the relevant regulations and may struggle to afford compliant fish screens. The mission of the fish screening section of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is to solve these problems. Through its cooperative compliance […]