Siphon-less Irrigation
Many
growers in the industry are looking at siphon-less alternatives to address challenges such as labour resourcing, water and energy
efficiency and productivity gains.
The GVIA participated in the Siphon-less
Irrigation Field Day
at Deer Park Moree on Wednesday the 6th of February 2019. The field day brought together a number of growers and irrigation consultants who
have firsthand experience with the various system in the industry today.
Some growers and designers have been working with bankless channel designs for many years while others have only recently tried these
systems. The field day gave everyone a chance to get together and discuss what they have learned from installing and using the different
siphon-less or bankless channel designs.
The event
was an outstanding success with over 140 attendees who could discuss their needs with other growers and with designers or researchers.
The drivers for moving away from standard siphon irrigation will vary by farm; some growers are looking for water use efficiency,
others for energy savings or productivity gains, while others are looking for a way to manage the challenge of labour resourcing, removing
the need for casual staff while improving the sustainability of employment for permanent staff.
Each of the different designs have different fits which will be influenced by the soil type the slope of the fields and the amount of earth
work that the grower is prepared to do.
The field
day booklet
is a comprehensive summary from a number of case studies on how growers have implemented the various designs, why they made the investments
and what their experiences have been. The industry has been learning about these systems for a number of years, and over then next few
years we will continue to learn how to adapt systems to further enhance the efficiencies of water, energy and labour.
If you would like a hard copy of the booklet please contact the GVIA.
The GVIA in partnership with CottonInfo have worked with Tom Cush from Avymore to develop a video
which will give you a growers' perspective of the transition from siphons to siphon-less.