Use Case

Kanpeki Rice Combining Dry-Seeding Techniques and WaterBit Precision Irrigation Technology to Deliver Premium Rice " In the past, I used experience and historical knowledge to really guess through trial and error what those accurate points were. WaterBit allows me to now have the metrics to know exactly how and when my soil is going to be at what moisture and temperature. WaterBit provides me with tremendous knowledge." Greg Van Dyke President/Owner of Kanpeki Rice and 5th Generation Farmer C A S E S T U DY Overview Rice provides 60% of the world's caloric intake on a daily basis. Greg Van Dyke, a fifth generation farmer and owner of Kanpeki Rice, is combining his in-field agricultural knowledge with WaterBit's precision irrigation technology to improve the yield and water use efficiency of this vital crop. Greg plans to implement this knowledge not just locally within his 3,200 acres of rice fields located in Pleasant Grove, California, but he is also actively working to spread rice-growing knowledge across the world. "We can learn more in the next two seasons of applying WaterBit technology than we've learned in the past 3,000 years since rice has been cultivated," says Greg. "I've been a rice farmer my whole life. It's my passion. As a California rice farmer, it is my dream to affect the world and with a simple change of applying technologies like WaterBit, this is a reality." Greg isn't your ordinary farmer; with a background in academia and linear programming, he is keenly interested in applying scientific methods and using variables to predict outcomes in his rice production to increase yield and quality, conserve resources and reduce his carbon footprint. When he was introduced to WaterBit's precision irrigation solution, Greg saw a way to harness the "amazing knowledge and power WaterBit gives you and how it can be applied in a scalable fashion." Currently, WaterBit is deployed on a trial field of 80 acres that Greg refers to as his "research project." His goal is being able to "scale and grow this and learn more and more data and information," which he can apply to his crops and share with other rice growers worldwide. Kanpeki specializes in growing Japonica Rice, a premium rice varietal that is also known as "sushi rice." Rice, like fine wine, takes on the flavor and characteristics of the climate and soil that it is grown in – and Kanpeki's Japonica varietal won top honors in several worldwide rice tasting competitions. Kanpeki employs a dry-farming method to grow its rice, which differs from the traditional flooded field method used across 98% of California's rice crops. Globally, flood irrigation is also the most common way to cultivate rice. In the traditional method, seeds are spread by a crop duster flying above the field and then the rice remains in a flooded environment throughout the continuity of its life until just before harvest when the water is removed. Dry-farming also uses a crop duster to distribute seeds, but utilizes much different water management practices that impact not only water usage but also yield, taste and quality. As the name suggests, dry-farming employs periods of "drying down" the field to control invasive weeds species and increase the heartiness of rice, which actually improves its taste and quality. Water is periodically flushed through the fields rather than letting the rice

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