Enabling Variable-Rate Irrigation at District Scale for Open Field Crops

Irrigation of open field crops is a key issue for agriculture in many areas worldwide due to increased population, reduced arable land, and climate change. We describe an information system encompassing a number of technologies and system components to enable precision and variable rate irrigation at scale beyond the individual farm. We discuss the challenges arising in bringing to practical and impactful results the precision and variable rate irrigation solutions enabled by data-driven, smart agriculture.