Irrigation, Reservoirs & Scheduling
Irrigation: Overview
The short version of what Irrigation does and why it exists.
Irrigation scheduling based on soil moisture deficit and evapotranspiration rather than habit typically delivers substantial water and energy savings alongside better crop uniformity. This module runs the scheduling model, manages reservoir storage and refill, and appraises the capital case for winter storage against a summer abstraction licence that may not always be available.
Detail
Why Irrigation exists
Irrigation scheduling based on soil moisture deficit and evapotranspiration rather than habit typically delivers substantial water and energy savings alongside better crop uniformity. This module runs the scheduling model, manages reservoir storage and refill, and appraises the capital case for winter storage against a summer abstraction licence that may not always be available.
Field studies of sensor and evapotranspiration-based scheduling consistently report water use efficiency gains in the range of 20 to 40 per cent alongside yield improvement. On-farm reservoir and irrigation grants have been available through the capital grant offers, and winter storage is increasingly the only route to secure summer water as abstraction is constrained.
Everything Irrigation records is written into the same platform data spine as every other module, which is why a single entry can satisfy an operational need, a scheme evidence requirement, an assurance clause and a carbon activity line at once. That is the whole design premise: the work is already being done, and it is the recording of it that is duplicated.
The ground reality
What is actually happening in irrigation in the UK
Field studies of sensor and evapotranspiration-based scheduling consistently report water use efficiency gains in the range of 20 to 40 per cent alongside yield improvement. On-farm reservoir and irrigation grants have been available through the capital grant offers, and winter storage is increasingly the only route to secure summer water as abstraction is constrained.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Irrigation, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
Irrigation — a walkthrough
A working pass through irrigation: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
In practice
Six things Irrigation changes on day one
None of these requires a new process. They all come from recording the work you already do, once, in a form the rest of the platform can use.
Soil moisture deficit modelling by
Soil moisture deficit modelling by field, soil type and crop stage.
Evapotranspiration-based scheduling with local weather
Evapotranspiration-based scheduling with local weather input.
Soil moisture sensor integration with
Soil moisture sensor integration with calibration to field capacity.
Irrigation event planning, execution and
Irrigation event planning, execution and recording.
Application uniformity assessment for booms
Application uniformity assessment for booms, guns and drip.
Reservoir storage volume, refill and
Reservoir storage volume, refill and drawdown management.
End to end
How Irrigation runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Establish soil water holding capacity by field
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Install and calibrate monitoring
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Model the deficit daily
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Plan irrigation against licence headroom
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Apply and record volumes
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Monitor uniformity and energy use
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Manage reservoir refill through winter
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Review seasonal efficiency and yield response
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
How we handle evidence
Where these figures come from
Agrivencia grades every figure it publishes. Primary legislation, official statistics and audit reports are treated as authoritative. Levy body and professional body data is treated as reliable. Commercial trackers and trade press are treated as indicative and labelled as such. Where sources conflict, the conflict is shown rather than resolved silently.
- Authoritative Legislation, statutory instruments, official scheme rules, national audit and public accounts reporting, departmental annual reports and accredited official statistics.
- Reliable Parliamentary committee evidence, peer-reviewed research, independent economic institutes and levy body analysis.
- Supporting Professional bodies, land agents, certification schemes and industry associations.
- Indicative Commercial market trackers and trade press, used for corroboration only and always labelled.
Payment rates, caps and windows in UK farm support change frequently and sometimes without notice. Nothing on this platform is a substitute for the current published scheme rules or for professional advice.
Free tool
Run the numbers for your own holding
Enter your figures and get an answer you can act on, with the method shown so you can check it. Save the result to your account or take it away as a PDF.