General Questions

What is Farm Water Advisor?

Provides a mobile application that maps your field and crop to let you know the exact number of hours to irrigate for the upcoming 7-days. We have also developed a web version for desktop. Contact us for our solution that allows managing many farms, ranches and fields.

Which crops can I use Farm Water Advisor for?

Farm Water Advisor is currently calibrated for the following crops: nuts, citrus, grapevine and olive. Is your crop not in the list? Our team is hard at work to calibrate the app for more crops. If you would like to be notified of when your crop will be added, please send an email to hello@farmwateradvisor.com.

Where can I use Farm Water Advisor?

Farm Water Advisor is currently calibrated for California only. The team is hard at work to get the app ready for areas outside of California. If you want to know when your region will be added, please send an email to hello@farmwateradvisor.com

How can I get Farm Water Advisor?

Farm Water Advisor is a free-to-download smartphone app available for iOS and Android.

How does the crop water demand forecast works?

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of two separate processes through which water is lost from a soil surface by evaporation and from crops through transpiration. Estimation of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is a key factor in achieving sustainable water management in irrigated agriculture. Farm Water Advisor combines the most accurate hyper-spectral weather data on a field-by-field basis using crop and field-specific parameters for seven-day ETc forecasts delivered daily.

How does the irrigation forecast work?

Farm Water Advisor recommends the frequency and length of your events for the coming seven days. It calculates the schedule that best fits your field based on soil type, crop and irrigation system. Water Advisor calculates the water balance day-by-day by monitoring the volume of water going in and out of the effective root zone. Based on the water balance, a weekly irrigation forecast is recommended to refill that water loss. This recommendation is based on the fewest number of irrigation events for the forthcoming seven days, taking into account the maximum irrigation runtime recommended for your field.

Which sources of information do we use?

Farm Water Advisor uses the following information for the calculation of crop water demand and irrigation scheduling:

Weather data, including reference evapotranspiration from The Weather Company
Soil information from Soil Survey Geographic Database
Different root depth, which depends on the crop and on the soil profile
Crop-specific correction factors based on the time of the season
Orchard-specific correction factors for tree density and tree diameter based on satellite images
Effective rainfall – rain that is actually added and stored in the soil and is not runoff

Getting started and making schedules

How can I register?

After installing the Farm Water Advisor app, open it and click on the "Register" button. Then enter your name, email address, create a password and click on "Register". Farm Water Advisor will then send you a verification email so that you can confirm your account. Afterwards you can register immediately in the app with your email and your password.

Why do I not see the verification email?

If you don't see the verification email in your inbox, please check your junk/spam folder.

Which inputs do I need to create an irrigation schedule?

The setup process can be done in just a few steps. All you need to do is select the location of your field, which crop you grow there and which irrigation system you have. Farm Water Advisor does the rest by instantly calculating the water needs of your crop for the following seven days. You can now get field-specific irrigation schedules delivered straight to your phone, every day.

Why are these maps outdated?

The high-resolution maps that you use to locate your field may be several years old, as images with such a high resolution are only taken once every few years. The maps serve as an orientation point as you find your field. The irrigation schedule you will see later is based on current data.

Can I update the irrigation type and output after field creation?

You can change the irrigation type at any time should you wish to update the discharge rate later in the season. Select your field from the field list and click on the “edit” button in the bottom menu. Here you can change the irrigation system data.

Can I update the crop type after field creation?

If you want to change the crop type later in the season you can do it anytime. Select the field from the field list and click on the "edit" button in the bottom menu. Here you can change the crop type.

Where do the weather data come from?

All weather data, including reference evapotranspiration, are delivered by The Weather Company, an IBM business. The enhanced current conditions and forecast data from IBM provides high-resolution weather data down to a 500-square meter resolution. The forecasts are based on The Weather Company's proprietary modelling capabilities and their network of observations, radar and satellite assimilation, combined with quality assurance from meteorologists and related scientists.