The Irrigation Association (IA) announces that July 2021 has once again been designated as Smart Irrigation Month. This month-long initiative is an opportunity for the irrigation industry to promote the importance and value of digital irrigation practices. The irrigation industry — both landscape and agriculture — has had its share of challenges in the last year. Through strength and resiliency, the industry was able to find solutions to weather and overcome these obstacles and emerge as stronger than before.
The IA is continuing this theme in 2021 by celebrating the solutions that irrigation professionals bring society through best practices and efficient technologies. The 2021 theme for Smart Irrigation Month is: Smart irrigation. Sustainable solutions. Throughout the month of July, the IA and its members will promote how using digital irrigation practices and technologies are providing solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges in both the landscape and agriculture irrigation industries.
Smart Irrigation Month kicks off on July 6 with Technology Tuesday. Irrigation professionals are encouraged to wear blue on July 6 to raise awareness about everything that makes up digital irrigation, including the people, practices and technologies that efficiently apply water to our agricultural fields, landscapes and turfgrass. Participants are encouraged to share photos of themselves wearing blue on social media using the hashtag #SmartIrrigationMonth.
“With the challenges our industry faced over the past year with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud to be able to celebrate our industry through Smart Irrigation Month this year,” said IA CEO Deborah Hamlin, CAE, FASAE. “Smart Irrigation Month is our opportunity to highlight the value and importance of efficient irrigation. Focusing on the irrigation innovations and practices that are helping achieve new levels of sustainability in both the agriculture and landscape industries is a great way to recognize the significant impact our industry has in being responsible stewards of this natural resource.”
Smart Irrigation Month serves as the showcase month for the irrigation industry and the public to recognize and promote the benefits associated with digital and efficient irrigation.
“The irrigation industry continues to be at the forefront of developing technologies and practices for the most efficient and effective use of water,” continued Hamlin. “We look forward to recognizing the practices and solutions that make this possible during Smart Irrigation Month 2021.”
This July, irrigation professionals are invited to share with their customers and communities how they achieve sustainable solutions by using digital irrigation technologies and practices. The IA offers numerous resources and tips for engaging the media and the public and for use on social media. Go to www.smartirrigationmonth.org for these resources and more information.
Fortunately, the benefits of smart irrigation are all around us. They are in the food we eat, the air we breathe, the rivers we cherish and the roar of a crowd under the Friday night lights at your local high school. Though we are often unable to see digital irrigation in action, we trust that it’s doing its job, without wasting one of our nation’s most precious resources: water. Unfortunately, not everyone understands these roles irrigation plays in our daily lives. We need to do a better job of telling our story and showcasing smart irrigation in action.
So, what exactly is smart irrigation in action? It can be anything from the center pivots over the fields in Nebraska to drip irrigation in a vineyard to the cloud-based control systems that allow irrigation managers to control an irrigation system from anywhere in the world with their cell phone or tablet. Smart irrigation in action can also be the people making sure the drip lines are running smoothly or the sprinklers are distributing the water uniformly around the crop circle. Digital irrigation in action is all of us working together to make sure we have the food we need and the landscapes we enjoy.
