Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1443765
36 POTATO GROWER | FEBRUARY 2022 DIGGIN' IN IRRIGATION | Industry Report Savvy growers throughout the world are rapidly modernizing their irrigation systems by adding automation packages to reduce labor, improve crop irrigation/ fertigation, and remotely monitor system and agronomic conditions. The trend began decades ago, but has recently accelerated due to advancements in automation technology that meet agriculture's demanding conditions: they must be robust, reliable, easy to use, and cost-effective. Looking for all that and more, Clemson University's Simpson Research Station in South Carolina was on the hunt for a new irrigation system that could meet the demands of its facility. The main challenge for Clemson, similar to many growers across the country, is size and natural obstacles, such as trees and bodies of water. These potential communication threats have caused issues with irrigation systems in the past, and the university was determined to find a system that could overcome these obstacles without sacrificing performance or reliability. The Simpson Research Station decided to put its current system up against a new, cutting-edge automation system that is the first in the industry to use 4G/wi-fi/LoRa/Bluetooth technology. To accomplish this, the facility worked with Chris McWhorter, Toro Ag's district manager for the southeastern U.S. McWhorter partnered with a prominent local dealer to conduct a head-to-head field test of the new Toro Tempus Automation against the leading Research station pits irrigation systems head to head Taking It to the Field competitor operating in the 900MHz radio spectrum. "A field test of the leading competitor was already in progress, so we just added a Toro installation to compare the two in identical field conditions," says McWhorter. "Automation telemetry seeks to provide reliable communication between the base station and multiple field controllers that activate distant valves. The challenges to this communication include distance, topography and hindrances such as trees, water bodies and/or other infrastructure. The only way to really know which system works best is to test them side by side—from installation to operation." McWhorter began by installing the Tempus base station next to the