Irrigation scheduling is finding the answer to two basic questions: “When do I turn the water on?” and, “How long do I leave it on?” Improved irrigation scheduling has tremendous public and private benefits. Irrigation scheduling has been shown in various studies to decrease irrigation water use by 10-30% while resulting in equivalent or better crop quality and yields. Since irrigation is responsible for 80-90% of the consumptive water use in the state of Washington, the total water and energy savings from improved irrigation management is tremendous.
The Irrigation Scheduler was initially developed at the Washington State University (WSU) Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC) in Prosser, Washington by Sean Hill and Cynthia Tiwana under the direction of Troy Peters, Extension Irrigation Specialist and Assistant Professor at Washington State University.
This project received funding from the following sources:
United States Department of Agriculture, National Water Quality Initiative
Washington State University Agricultural Research Center
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
WSU AgWeatherNet
The source code for the Irrigation Scheduler is freely available by contacting Troy Peters with the request that you credit this project in any future developments using the code.