Farming in the Climate Change Era

The goal of the Farming in the Climate Change Era project is to create a field deployable system to monitor the volume of water that is applied to a field. Gerrad Jones, an environmental engineer and chemist at Oregon State University, has tasked our team to develop this system of water management for the Quechan Indian Tribe in Southern California. The tribe is located in Imperial Valley, near the US/Mexico border, in one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the world; however, this region is naturally very dry and must be irrigated year-round. The system will measure and record instantaneous flow data, and then send that data to a remote server where it can be displayed and viewed by water managers to track water application in real time. The Quechen people need to be able to more effectively utilize the scarce water resources that they have available to them. Imperial Valley receives only 3” of rainfall per year, and the state of California is now requiring water application data that would require the tribe to purchase expensive systems to record the data. There are expensive alternatives available, but the tribe does not have the budget for these options. Ultimately, our system will be able to take pressure off of the tribe and allow its 2000 members to more effectively and efficiently produce crops and sustain their livelihood.

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Awards

Artifacts

Name Description
Project Document Complete Guide to the System   Download
Executive Summary Project Overview   Download
Project Summary Video Video Overview of Project Details   Link