An Electric Program Investment Charge Program (EPIC) analysis funded by the California Energy Commission has found that new technology can improve irrigation efficiency.
AgMonitor, a digital platform for farmers to track and manage their water and energy usage, tested its product on farms from 2019 to 2023. CEC reports that farms using AgMonitor over that period “improved precision in irrigation from 70% on average to over 90%.”
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State Food and Agriculture Board Chair Don Cameron used AgMonitor on Terranova Ranch to track water reduction during droughts and recharge during wet years. In a release, he said the technology will help producers find “a low-cost, accurate way to measure their water use and provide water accounting for SGMA,” the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
The platform simplifies on-farm processes and can interface in both English and Spanish. CEC also reported that the State Water Resources Control Board recently increased the amount of accepted methods to measure groundwater extraction following the CEC review of AgMonitor.
