5
give us the opportunity to reach
more growers, more often."
January saw the release of the
"The Irrigation Station" introduction,
which highlighted the foundation
for practices and techniques that
will be covered throughout the year.
February's episode focused on
"Building Your Toolbox" and March's
release will feature "Groundtruthing"
techniques for measuring available
soil moisture in the orchard. In April's
episode, Cooper will walk viewers
through the intricacies of using a
pressure chamber to measure plant
water status.
"Showing is so much better
than telling," Cooper said. "What
excites me about this series is that
we actually demonstrate the tools
growers use in the orchard. Some
things require little tricks of the trade
or 'irrigation hacks,' as I call them,
which makes this visual learning tool
so important."
Monthly episodes are planned for
the remainder of 2019, covering topics
such as strategic deficit irrigation,
understanding tree stress and
post-harvest irrigation. In addition
to featuring Cooper as the series
host, future episodes will include UC
Cooperative Extension farm advisors,
irrigation technology providers and
growers.
"The Irrigation Station" also seeks
to support growers in achieving the
Almond Orchard 2025 Goals set by
ABC's Board of Directors, including
the goal of reducing the amount
of water needed to grow a pound
of almonds by 20% by 2025.
"We have an ambitious schedule
for future episodes," Cooper noted.
"We're ready to support almond
growers in meeting their goals as well
as the industry's goals when it comes
to water use."
Monthly episodes of "The Irrigation
Station" are featured in ABC's
In The Orchard e-newsletter and
posted on the Almond Board
Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Visit YouTube.com/AlmondBoardofCA
to see past episodes, and check out
Almonds.com/Irrigation to download
the Continuum and access other
irrigation tools.
In Episode 3 of "The Irrigation Station" Cooper explains how to evaluate field capacity using NRCS' technique of "estimating soil
moisture by feel and appearance." Visit YouTube.com/AlmondBoardofCA to watch past episodes.
