Deardorff Family Farms Fights Drought With Technology

Oxnard, CA – As Deardorff Family Farms battles with the drought like the rest of our California growers, we look to technology to find ways to best conserve, monitor, and manage our agricultural water usage. By investing in smart devices like iPhones and iPads, we have equipped our field personnel with the tools to access Hortau's irrigation management system.

Hortau offers real-time data on its web-based monitoring systems that is accessed in the office and/or directly in the field to allow us to see a variety of measurements from soil tension, soil temperature, and humidity on different fields to adjust water usage precisely. Hortau’s irrigation management system has become an integral part of our production, with eleven systems placed throughout our 2,000 Certified Organic and Conventional acres in Ventura County. The system’s ability to test for soil moisture tension, which measures the amount of suction needed from the crop to extract water from the soil, has made a huge impact on irrigation management. Just a slight change in water content in the soil can have huge impacts on the health of the crop.

Richard Martinez, Organic Production Manager for Deardorff Family Farms, recently spoke with Forbes Magazine in an article “The Internet Versus The Great California Drought,” where he shared that before installing Hortau’s systems, he would often test the soil moisture by feel and sight, rubbing the dirt between his fingers and watching the plant’s effects on the crop as he adjusted water amounts. This trial and error method was obviously not fitting as the state entered one of the biggest droughts in history, and he installed his first Hortau system in 2013. With the drought increasing significantly in 2014, Richard installed seven more systems in his organic fields and gives a nod to the results – “I have tried other soil monitoring systems in the past, and in my opinion Hortau’s is by far the most accurate and true measurement of soil tension compared to others on the market. This is vital when we have different soil types throughout all our ranches, with one single ranch having multiple soil types, each holding moisture differently.”

Hortau’s system has drastically altered the way we monitor our water usage, and has become a necessity during the 25% state-mandated cutbacks. We have been able to better monitor over/under-watering and apply appropriate amounts where needed, which is especially imperative on our celery fields that require the most water and is our biggest produced crop. 

Richard continues explaining the usefulness of Hortau – “This system is a better decision tool for us; we can regulate accordingly to any changes in climate. Whether it’s overcast for a week straight or sunny skies for days, we can more accurately adjust water output. In this industry, especially during the drought, as technologies develop the more efficient we will become and the more we will conserve.”

Source: Deardorff Family Farms