Context

European directives and effects of climate change are causing an increased attention to sustainability of the agricultural sector. Irrigation in particular is amongst the most demanding agricultural practices in terms of use of natural resources.

Tackling the above-referenced problems will progressively require water management companies to provide a more accurate monitoring of where water is used, especially in conditions of scarcity. This will in turn cause (where this is not already happening) volumetric billing water management, providing a substantial paradigm shift to the way we do agriculture today. Without going too far ahead into the future, in many regions irrigation water needs to be pumped incurring also energy costs.

Whatever the settings, being able to reduce the use of irrigation can only be beneficial for the environment as well as for the crops. In many cases deficit irrigation has been proven to help in producing better quality crop outcome (i.e. better quality grapes, reduced waste in the vegetables domain).