Jacob Farm

The Jacob Water Technology Farm is operated by Ryan Speer of No-Till on the Plains, Inc. The farm is located 5 miles west of Valley Center, Kansas in Sedgwick County. The Jacob Farm focuses on both water conservation and water quality. The objectives of the farm include applying less water during growing season and decreasing the application of saline-rich water to help improve crop yields. He has introduced the farming method of no-tilling the field to help maintain the healthy soil nutrients.

Technology

One goal of the farm is to mitigate water quality issues and planting corn, soybean, and wheat on the field will help accomplish this. By applying less water, the amount of bad components would be reduced from any poor quality water in the local aquifer. Utilizing more efficient sprinkler nozzles, a pivot controller to adjust rate of application, soil moisture probes, and direct plant sensing technology will help with reduce water use on the field.

For the 2020 growing season, Mr. Speer plans to also incorporate some Trellis soil probes for further study and a camera sensor package to install directly on the pivot to take images at regular intervals of the field to monitor the crop status. Each of these technologies aid Speer in making better management decisions each season. Also, by taking regular soil and water quality tests, he hopes to determine if less water application reduces the rate of deterioration of the soil.

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