Willy Lucas

Region: Burdekin

Who: Willy Lucas

Location: Burdekin

This project aims develop a low cost wirelesss moisture sensor that can be installed in the middle of a canefield and transmit wirelessly back to a basestation which will then display values on a website

There are currently many growers that are irrigating in a way that is not using scheduling tools but instead are using a 7 day cycle regardless of the level of stress that the cane may be under. If we can develop a low cost tool that will monitor moisture in the paddock to give real time data to allow a grower to understand his crop needs, we may be able to reduce the amount of water applied to a paddock and therefore the amount of runoff produced. This will also enable us to determine which paddocks are driest when it comes times to harvest, along with which paddocks will need irrigating first after a rainfall event.