Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia
Based on the latest climate change projections for the 21st century, high exposure to climate change is expected in Vipava Valley, Slovenia’s sub-Mediterranean agricultural area. An irrigation-decision support system was developed and implemented on 35 farms in the period of 2016–2020 to increase ag...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/9/1238 |
| _version_ | 1827708300984057856 |
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| author | Rozalija Cvejić Majda Černič-Istenič Luka Honzak Urša Pečan Špela Železnikar Marina Pintar |
| author_facet | Rozalija Cvejić Majda Černič-Istenič Luka Honzak Urša Pečan Špela Železnikar Marina Pintar |
| author_sort | Rozalija Cvejić |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Based on the latest climate change projections for the 21st century, high exposure to climate change is expected in Vipava Valley, Slovenia’s sub-Mediterranean agricultural area. An irrigation-decision support system was developed and implemented on 35 farms in the period of 2016–2020 to increase agricultural climate-change resilience. Farmers have shifted from irrigation scheduling based on experience and assumptions to irrigation scheduling based on real-time soil-water monitoring to partially implement irrigation based on irrigation-decision support systems. Simulations show that if farmers continue to practice justified irrigation applications and gradually transition to replenishing soil water reservoir content to 85%, they will achieve a 25% reduction in total irrigation-volume consumption, a 24% reduction in energy requirements and a 24% reduction in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. Future agricultural innovation policies should extend actions beyond the financial to those facilitating the establishment of multidisciplinary agricultural innovation teams with corresponding infrastructures to better enable the mutual exchange of knowledge, learning and development of a transparent institutional framework. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:01:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-38ebfbfe5379445fadd38d4c645f4611 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:01:43Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-38ebfbfe5379445fadd38d4c645f46112023-11-20T10:55:25ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952020-08-01109123810.3390/agronomy10091238Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, SloveniaRozalija Cvejić0Majda Černič-Istenič1Luka Honzak2Urša Pečan3Špela Železnikar4Marina Pintar5Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaBO-MO Ltd., Bratovševa Ploščad 4, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, SloveniaBased on the latest climate change projections for the 21st century, high exposure to climate change is expected in Vipava Valley, Slovenia’s sub-Mediterranean agricultural area. An irrigation-decision support system was developed and implemented on 35 farms in the period of 2016–2020 to increase agricultural climate-change resilience. Farmers have shifted from irrigation scheduling based on experience and assumptions to irrigation scheduling based on real-time soil-water monitoring to partially implement irrigation based on irrigation-decision support systems. Simulations show that if farmers continue to practice justified irrigation applications and gradually transition to replenishing soil water reservoir content to 85%, they will achieve a 25% reduction in total irrigation-volume consumption, a 24% reduction in energy requirements and a 24% reduction in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. Future agricultural innovation policies should extend actions beyond the financial to those facilitating the establishment of multidisciplinary agricultural innovation teams with corresponding infrastructures to better enable the mutual exchange of knowledge, learning and development of a transparent institutional framework.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/9/1238irrigation-decision support systemirrigation schedulingclimate change |
| spellingShingle | Rozalija Cvejić Majda Černič-Istenič Luka Honzak Urša Pečan Špela Železnikar Marina Pintar Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia Agronomy irrigation-decision support system irrigation scheduling climate change |
| title | Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia |
| title_full | Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia |
| title_fullStr | Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia |
| title_short | Farmers Try to Improve Their Irrigation Practices by Using Daily Irrigation Recommendations—The Vipava Valley Case, Slovenia |
| title_sort | farmers try to improve their irrigation practices by using daily irrigation recommendations the vipava valley case slovenia |
| topic | irrigation-decision support system irrigation scheduling climate change |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/9/1238 |
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