Three Years’ Experience with Various Sources of Aerial Images for Irrigation Management

Abstract. Irrigation management continues to look for better information for decision making. Commonly information may come from field sensors, crop modeling, or both. These provide value but in most commercial cases are limited in the percent of area of the field they adequately address and/or providing any level of current detail. Another information source gaining more attention is the use of aerial imagery. Aerial imagery has the advantage of providing a complete view of the field. This paper will review the experiences of using aerial imagery over the last three growing seasons. The discussion will focus on using satellite, manned planes and drones to collect aerial images and their application for irrigation management of center pivots and sub-surface irrigated fields. The economics of the different options will be reviewed as well as the limitations of each.