His crew calls VP Jonathan Brown at Bethel Farms the “gadget man” for good reason. Brown has implemented some of the industry’s newest telemetry and irrigation technologies to achieve sustainable agriculture best management practices, which positively impact both the environment and the bottom line.
Brown said, “With water supplies in the Southeast continuously at risk, there is now more environmental regulation than ever. I realized several years ago, however, that if you have the data proving your water management practices are sound then nobody can really argue with you. We want sound science to be the basis for our use of water, fertilizer, insecticides and herbicides. We are aware of the sometimes negative perception of agriculture where the environment is concerned. The McCrometer CONNECT® System helps us be smart about doing the right things to be successful.”
Bethel Farms is one of the largest turf producers in the Central Florida region with 100 employees managing 4,000 acres of farmland stretching across the Southeast. Founded in 1958 as a small cattle and poultry operation in central Florida, it has blossomed into a leading agricultural company that specializes in sod, grass plugs, citrus and cattle.
Brown says, “From a return-on-investment perspective, we spent $50,000 on our original telemetry system and I can easily show you how the system already has saved us well over $250,000 by better protecting our citrus and turf crops alone. I also sleep much better at night.” Brown noted their water use data also shows they exceeded irrigation district conservation goals by more than 62 percent. According to Brown, this equates to water conservation in the millions of gallons. “When you can do this with repeatable results and show this much improvement, that is good.”
The Problem
Brown’s focus on telemetry began some years ago at one of the company’s citrus farms. There was concern from the local irrigation district about water quantity and quality. The company was asked to drill its new wells to a depth of 1,400 to 1,500 feet with the theory being the depth would prevent salt from leaching into the coastal aquifer water supply. “We discovered with test wells that going down to 1,500 feet actually created capillaries, which brought up salt water, the exact opposite effect of what we were trying to achieve. We learned that drilling only 500-800 foot wells was the optimum depth to bring up the best quality water,” Brown notes.
That experience taught Brown the importance of establishing measurable baselines to support effective crop management decisions. Brown established a number of programs having farm staff measure and manually log data every day. He found that manual measurement and logging was not only too inconsistent for his needs, but costly too. Brown then became interested in telemetry and automated monitoring as a means to measure and collect the critical information across Bethel’s multiple farms.
The challenge until recently for Brown, and many other growers, was that wireless technology could not be adapted easily to their specific operations—especially when they are scattered across multiple locations. “We tried a couple of different telemetry systems, but the problem was the suppliers wanted to build a standard system to a standard spec that didn’t really meet our needs. We needed a flexible solution that could be easily customized to the different crops and irrigation systems at each of our farms,” Brown said. The remote data collection system needed to be portable and reliable, simple to install and use, and produce accurate data to support daily farm management—in addition to Brown’s research work in various applications, including disease risk and pest management.
The Solution
To find a better telemetry solution, Brown consulted McCrometer and The Avanti Company (McCrometer’s Florida manufacturers’ representative). The team designed a local radio network to cover all the monitoring needs at Bethel Farms Arcadia property. The McCrometer CONNECT system offers radio, cellular and satellite communication options, ensuring complete telemetry coverage no matter how remote the monitored site. Brown was looking for a solution to monitor weather and soil parameters, including both soil moisture and temperature (for both turf and citrus), as well as pump operation and water use.
McCrometer CONNECT UHF wireless data loggers were selected to serve as the foundation for the Arcadia telemetry network. Components include:
A combination of short and long range wireless data loggers with coverage over the whole farm
A wide selection of reliable and accurate sensors (especially soil moisture as the needs in turf were very different than citrus)
A local A850 Telemetry gateway to manage all wireless communication
The addVANTAGE Professional server software package to collect and access data from any Internet connection
This modular system of rugged solar powered field stations and selection of precision sensors met Brown’s requirements for data collection accuracy and configuration flexibility. The long range stations provide framework to serve with short range stations for a cost efficient solution. The combination of long and short range stations provides a framework that is both cost efficient and flexible. This network setup allowed Brown to deploy more monitoring points with the same budget; and it now provides Brown the flexibility to expand the monitoring system to his other farms or even his contract growers’ operations in the future. The final system was a network of field stations (Fig. 1) that allowed Brown to monitor:
Figure 1: Aerial Google Earth Map of Arcadia Farm systems
General weather conditions
Localized, site-specific rainfall across the farm
Frost, as well as detect and alert other extreme environmental events
Data for calculating local evapotranspiration (ETo)
Data for calculating degree days (compatible with most IPM degree day models)
Pump operations, including pumping pressure and runtimes
Remote meter readings (daily, weekly, monthly and annual water use)
Soil moisture (turf) at two depths
Soil moisture (citrus) 8-10 depths, along with irrigation run time
Sod Applications
Within the first year of installation, the value of the McCrometer CONNECT system became quickly apparent to Brown. The company’s signature Empire Zoysia turf grass crop was threatened by an outbreak of Rhizoctonia Large Patch (RLP). This is a disease caused by a strain of Rhizoctonia solani that causes damage to the warm season Zoysia grass. The disease results in thin turf patches that may be overtaken by weeds and other grass species, making the product both unattractive and unfit for sale. Brown has used some of the custom features in addVANTAGE Professional to automatically search for the conditions that promote Rhizoctonia.
Figure 2: McCrometer CONNECT System (weather station)
“I received a weather station alarm from the McCrometer CONNECT system (Fig 2) that indicated conditions were right for RLP. I contacted the Arcadia farm manager to have him survey the fields in question. He reported back that he noticed the possibility of RLP beginning in one zone of a protective application of Certis Trilogy® and DuPont Manzate® fungicides. Brown’s team applied the treatment to the Empire Zoysia plots, with the exception of a few acres to act as a control, to see if the RLP would emerge.
Brown said, “Within two weeks, it was immediately apparent where we had not sprayed because the RLP brown patches were highly visible. We had stopped the disease dead in its tracks and protected our most important turf grass product. RLP doesn’t necessarily kill the grass, but it is unattractive and once the weeds emerge then it is almost impossible to salvage without applying herbicides, and all that takes more time. This particular incident alone saved Bethel Farms over $63,000.”
Through the close monitoring of disease models at the sod farms and system alerts that allow for fast preventative measures to be taken, Bethel has not had to use a post/curative Rhizoc treatment for a long time. Utilizing this technology was a big part of enabling Bethel Farms to harvest three crops of Bermuda turf in 2013.
Integrated Pest Management for Citrus
Brown is now concerned about the Asian citrus psyllid and citrus greening. The Asian citrus psyllid damages citrus directly by feeding on new leaf growth which twists and curls young leaves and kills or burns back new shoots. More seriously, the insect is a vector associated with the devastating citrus disease called Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening. As it feeds, the psyllid takes in the bacteria from infected plants and spreads it to other healthy plants. Currently there is no known cure for citrus greening, and the only way to protect trees is to prevent spread by controlling psyllid populations and preventing stress in the trees.
In working with researchers to find the best approach to dealing with the psyllid, Brown’s crew is using Movento®, a systemic foliar insecticide from Bayer. This solution requires the close monitoring of soil moisture levels, which is critical to ensuring the tree receives the right amount of pesticide. Data from soil moisture probes is displayed as a soil profile so Brown and his crew can see what is going on at each depth. Using this data, Brown tracks the performance of his irrigation system and can alter the schedule, runtime or irrigation volume to support planned Movento applications.
Figure 3: McCrometer CONNECT System photo (citrus)
Brown also has observed that fighting the psyllid requires close monitoring of weather. He has learned that certain weather conditions trigger the migration of the psyllid. Brown said “We’re promoting sugar and brix levels in the leaves to make the plants unattractive to the psyllid. We also know their migration is weather driven and that tells us when to scout and spray because the insecticide requires two weeks to move fully into the tree. I also use my system’s weather data and alarms to time my spraying applications for maximum effectiveness.” Using the McCrometer CONNECT System (Fig 3), Brown can accurately tie his irrigation and pesticide programs together to get the best effect.
The Environment
Monitoring a multitude of parameters enables Bethel Farms to protect the environment. In combination with sound management practices, the company uses data collected on weather, soil moisture and salinity levels, frost/freeze alerts, pump and water use to conserve fuel, fertilizer, and insecticides and prevent run-off and leaching of nutrients. “A big part of utilizing the data provided by our system is geared towards the sustainability of agriculture.” Brown notes. “We owe thanks to Southwest Florida Water Management and the Natural Resources Conservation Service teams for their participation in making this possible.”
Frost
While a great number of growers approach the onset of frost season with dread, Brown is less concerned. The McCrometer CONNECT weather stations monitor conditions in the citrus, sod and turf crops throughout the farms’ differing microclimates. By pre-setting critical thresholds in the system’s integrated alarm feature, Brown knows he can rely on receiving timely alerts via text, voicemail or SMS to warn of impending frost conditions. This gives managers the opportunity to take fast, preventative action to avoid crop damage.
Brown said, “With a quarter million dollars of fruit on the trees and substantial investment in turf, the frost and freeze alarm capacity of the system really saves us. It also prevents excess use of water that is utilized for cold protection. If we have an irrigation fault, we receive an alarm, giving us time to react. I don’t have to worry. I can go to bed at night and know it’s all taken care of.”
Soil Moisture Monitoring
Soil moisture monitoring stations are typically used to help schedule and document irrigations. Bethel Farms’ team also uses soil moisture data as a diagnostic tool. A soil moisture probe installed at the Arcadia farm indicated 100 percent saturation at the lower foot level, leading the manager to initially think the sensor was faulty. Further inspection revealed a break in the farm’s tile irrigation system, which caused a system leak – flooding the field from underneath. Detecting the break early allowed the problem to be addressed without affecting the crop.
On Bethel’s Sumterville Farm, center pivots are used to irrigate the sod blocks. The sandy soils make irrigation efficiency especially challenging. Field stations equipped with weather sensors, including soil moisture and rain gauges, are set in the path of the center pivots. The rain gauges not only record rainfall but also how much irrigation is applied. Brown’s team monitors when irrigation water has penetrated to a target depth of eight inches. Then they increase the pivot speed to avoid overwatering and save on fuel costs.
Irrigation and Fertilizer Application in Citrus
With the use of the telemetry system, farm managers are able to see when the farm’s diesel pumps are operating. They use industry leading McCrometer flow meters and pressure sensors to measure volume pumped, system pressure, and flow rate every 15 minutes. Brown uses this information to determine his irrigation runtimes and know exactly how much water and fertilizer are applied with each irrigation event. Brown reports this program has helped drastically decrease pump fuel costs and fertilizer use and resulted in lowered water consumption by 30 percent. Brown said, “The telemetry data provides more tools to fine tune and builds a database that is undisputable to show what we’re doing is sound practice.”
Conclusion
Brown installed the initial telemetry system at their Arcadia, Florida farm in 2009. By 2014 he has expanded their system to three of the company’s farms, bringing his total to 24 field stations, which also track parameters such as evapotranspiration, frost, integrated pest management, and remote meter reading. Brown appreciates the flexibility of the modular McCrometer CONNECT system. He can move monitoring stations and sensors as needed to track and compare data based on different locations. The easy add-on capability of the system supports Brown’s plans for expansion to new operations in the future.
“I appreciate the product and support from the McCrometer and Avanti teams – they have been incredible to work with. They have been great at bringing the technology to our level and diligently adapting it to make it work for our purposes,” Brown said. His work demonstrates the benefits of wireless data collection and the value of using it in conjunction with best practices for management to increase the overall effectiveness of an application program. Bethel Farms now hosts Master Turf seminars to demonstrate their successful integration of technology to support irrigation efficiency and best management practices.
