CPC A01G 25/167 (2013.01) [G06Q 50/02 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |
1. A location-specific irrigation management system for predicting crop-realizable water in a crop location, the location-specific irrigation management system comprising:
a network-interfacing sensor configured to sense over time and communicate over a network a soil moisture value at the crop location associated with said network-interfacing sensor;
a network communications device configured to receive, over said network and in relation to the crop location, said soil moisture value and an irrigation signal indicative of an irrigation event;
a digital data storage component for storing said soil moisture value and said irrigation signal over time and in association with the crop location; and
a digital data processor operable to calculate, at least in part based on said stored soil moisture value and said stored irrigation signal, in association with respective times associated therewith, a location-specific crop-realizable water characteristic for the crop location, said location-specific crop-realizable water characteristic comprising a location-specific apparent evapotranspiration coefficient calculated using a generic evapotranspiration and one or more soil moisture values for the crop location, wherein said generic evapotranspiration is based on a generic reference crop;
wherein said location-specific crop-realizable water characteristic characterizes water uptake availability for crops at the crop location for predicting a future crop-realizable water value at the crop location at least in part by determining location-specific evapotranspiration therefor using the location-specific apparent evapotranspiration coefficient corresponding to the crop location.
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