Irrigation inspection is part of any farmer’s to-do list; keeping a steady and reliable water flow to your crops is fundamental to success. Agricultural organisations are making use of technology to automise watering depending on weather conditions, crop type and the landscape around them.
Just like any other type of organisation in other fields and sectors, digital inspection solutions aim to provide a cover-all inspection solution for users. Often they take advantage of the tech that now exists in mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), in the form of the camera touchscreen and integrated GPS. Using these mobile features, checklists can allow photo evidence which can later be annotated to be used as a data input or evidence, whilst taking GPS timestamps of any inspection so that it can be measured in the controlling system. For farmers this is especially useful, as many equipment pieces and assets are often moved about and so particular issues can be linked to certain locations, times of the day/year or even certain crop irrigation methods. Extra data like this, analysed by a computer system to produce insights and identify trends, gives another level of knowledge for those operating in an industry of slim margins. Many farmers and agricultural organisations choose to implement industry standards and regulations directly into their inspection process as reference material or a native checklist. For ISO (International Organization for Standards) regulations such as ISO 16075 – ‘Guidelines for treated wastewater use for irrigation projects’, digital inspection platforms can provide easy integration into the inspection solution. This means that the audit trail becomes highly simplified and compliance becomes a quick procedure.
