NSW cotton growers with an automated irrigation system

Steve Carolan and Andrew Greste of 'Waverley' Wee Waa, NSW with part of their automated irrigation system.

“We have converted 100 hectares of cotton from traditional siphons to a fully automated system, consisting of pipes through the bank and a series of gates in the channels which can be remotely opened and closed – by mobile phone. This is turn-key irrigation. It’s not cheap to set up, so to justify the conversion we need to see labour savings, increased flow rate, better uniformity, improved water use efficiency and improved yields. We’re only one season in, but we’re already seeing signs that these aspects will be there to justify the system," Steve says.