Washington, DC
November 4, 2005
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Sharon Durham, (301) 504-1611,
sdurham@ars.usda.gov
Managing irrigation and controlling pests while growing peanuts
can be more effective using a computer program called Irrigator
Pro. Developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists, Irrigator Pro is part of a collection of software
called FarmSuite, which continues to provide accurate
information to farmers as it's updated with new data.
Irrigator Pro versions for cotton and corn have also been
developed and are currently being validated in research trials
to provide growers recommendations on scheduling irrigation for
those crops.
Researchers at the ARS National Peanut Research Laboratory in
Dawson, Ga., are conducting long-term, multicrop research at a
farm location to define the best irrigation management practices
for growers of peanuts, corn and cotton. The study has completed
the fourth year of a 15-year study to determine the impact of
irrigation, crop rotation and price on profitability. Data from
this study is imported into the software each growing season.
Retired mechanical engineer James Davidson collaborated with
peanut farmers and the Peanut Foundation to create Irrigator Pro
in the late 1980s.
Irrigator Pro's goal is to improve economic returns for
irrigated peanut production and reduce risk associated with
foreign material, immaturity, off-flavor, chemical residues,
negative environmental impact and aflatoxin. More than 20 years
of scientific research data and information are incorporated in
the software to help peanut farmers make informed, appropriate
irrigation decisions.
This software became the progenitor of a collection of software
systems that would help farmers do their jobs, according to ARS
research leader Marshall Lamb in Dawson.
Read more about the research in the November 2005 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine, available online at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov05/water1105.htm
ARS is U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific
research agency. |
