On Wednesday, February 8 the Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association will be hosting its annual irrigation field day.
Grower-led research has been providing growers with a practical and commercial assessment of new innovations and technology, and this year will be no different.
The GVIA has been involved in this sort of irrigation research since 2008.
According to Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association project officer, Lou Gall, the field day this year will visit two optimised irrigation trial sites at Auscott and Red Mill.
“At Auscott there is the optimised row configuration trial,” she said.
“This is assessing the relative yield potential of a number of different row spacings under optimal irrigation.
“Information from this trial will help growers make production decisions associated with both dryland and irrigated cropping.
“At Red Mill the optimised furrow irrigation trial includes examples of standard siphons, small pipe through bank siphons and smart siphons.”
Lou also said there would be a range of weather and soil sensors to view, and several irrigation remote control devices installed in the field to improve irrigation efficiency.
“There are also some new devices being assessed to aid in autonomous irrigation,” she said.
“Field day participants will hear from growers who are utilising some of these irrigation tools, and from manufacturers who will provide updates on what is new in their ranges.”
As well as that, researchers who have been actively assessing the suitability of these new technologies to be a part of a fully autonomous irrigation system, will be on hand for people to speak with.
“It is shaping up to be a fabulous day, designed specifically for growers,” Lou said.
She said buses would be leaving the Moree Race Course at 7:20am on Wednesday, February 8, returning by 2:30pm. Lunch would be included in the overall price.
The research and field day is supported through funding from the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and the Australian government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.