In a world where agriculture is increasingly reliant on technology, Rentia Boerdery has radically improved the way they manage irrigation. By utilising smart control systems, the enterprise is now able to manage the entire irrigation process more efficiently.

Rentia Boerdery is located in the Vrede district of the Free State, where Christo Cronjé operates the family farm, growing maize and soya bean, while his brother manages the livestock and broiler chicken divisions.

Due to unpredictable weather patterns, the brothers had to diversify their farming operation by investing in their existing land. Rondebult farm, located just a few kilometres west of the family farm, has drier soil. For this reason, they decided to look into a new irrigation system and a storage dam.

A decades-long relationship

In 1992, his father had their Agrico pivot installed, and now Cronjé has turned to Agrico’s expertise to implement the new system. After Agrico’s irrigation designer Francois de Kock presented the cost/ha and energy savings to Cronjé, they decided to install 10 pivots and a pump station to irrigate just over 340ha from a storage dam.

De Kock explains that an automated system was necessary, as the land is quite far from the homestead. Therefore, Cronjé needed to be able to monitor and control the pivots remotely. Due to the farm’s topography, it was also important to achieve energy savings, and this is where Agrico’s Web Control provided the greatest benefits.

“There are basic factors that determine the energy demand of the system: the flow rate, the amount of water you pump, the efficiency of the pumps, and the pressure at which the system operates,” explains De Kock.

Since the pivot is a movable system, the pressure changes as it moves across the terrain. The pivot’s pressure requirement is communicated to the pump control system, which calculates a service point and passes this to the variable speed drive.

The pump speed is then adjusted according to the minimum pressure required to keep the pivot running. As the pivot moves, the pump control system is automatically adjusted.

For Cronjé’s pump station, the installation of an additional aerial with an amplifier was required to get better reception. The devices can be connected to the Web Control system, which means that the pump station, pivots, and dam level can all be managed from one platform.

Benefits for the farmer

“Agrico’s Web Control system unlocks many benefits for the farmer. Aside from the time saved, it also helps to keep an eye on the farm. The farmer has access to historical data that helps him/her decide how to irrigate,” explains De Kock.

With the installation of the new system, Cronjé used Agrico’s Web Control for the first time. He is so satisfied that he is now in the process of transferring his other irrigation systems to the Web Control system, too. “I can no longer manage without it,” he concludes.

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