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Abstract

AgGateway's PAIL project emerged from an initiative by the Northwestern Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) to optimize the use of energy (and consequently, water) in irrigation. It became clear that a major obstacle to the scalability of this pursuit was the lack of interoperability among the manufacturers of irrigation equipment, environmental sensors, farm management information systems (FMIS) and service providers. NEEA identified developing an industry-wide agreement on data standards as the first step needed to overcome that obstacle; PAIL was created for that purpose.

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As the world's population increases, food and water resources will be ever more strained. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that farmers will have to produce 70% more food by 2050 to meet the needs of the world's expected 9-billion-strong population. That amounts to 1bn one billion tons more wheat, rice and other cereals and 200m two hundred million more tons of beef and other livestock.

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This means that to meet the world's future food needs, a major "sustainable intensification" of agricultural productivity on existing farmland will be necessary, the FAO said in its report, State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture.

(Climate is changing)

More climate uncertainty --> more risk in crop productionAlthough the impact of climate change on crop yields varies from region o region, a global average 32–39% of the maize, rice, wheat and soybean year-to-year yield variability is explained by climate variability. This translates into climate explained annual production fluctuations of ~22 million tons, ~3 million tons, ~9 million tons and ~2 million tons for maize, rice, wheat and soybean, respectively. 
(Ray, D. K. et al. Climate variation explains a third of global crop yield variability. Nat. Commun. 6:5989 doi: 10.1038/ncomms6989 (2015).

Climate change, including climate variability, has a direct impact on water availability and irrigation. Notably the loss of ground and surface water, as well as increases in evapotranspiration will place greater stress on the limited availability of fresh water. (Connor J, Schwabe K, King D, Kaczan D, Kirby M (2009) Impacts of climate change on lower Murray irrigation. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 53: 437–456.)Multiple studies have concluded that climate change will have an impact on water availability for agriculture. Notably the loss of ground and surface water, as well as increases in evapotranspiration will place greater stress on the limited availability of fresh water. (Connor J, Schwabe K, King D, Kaczan D, Kirby M (2009) Impacts of climate change on lower Murray irrigation. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 53: 437–456.)

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Irrigation provides an important way to manage crop production risk

(But water is scarce)

But water is increasingly in short supply

(.. yet mismanaged )

However, few growers use scientific irrigation scheduling methods. Among the reasons that growers give for not adopting precision irrigation practices are:

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Precision irrigation has can increase both water and energy efficiencies by optimally matching the water requirements for a given crop within a specific area of a field, thereby either reducing costs or increasing yield for the same inputs of water and energy. Ideally, an integrated precision irrigation solution is built on the premise that growers and irrigators can:

  • Based on historical, current, and predictive field conditions, determine the timing, amount, and spatial pattern of water application on a field
  • Control the application of exactly what is required (how much, when and where it is applied)
  • Capture a record of the amount and spatial pattern of what was actually applied, and when and where it was applied
  • Understand the soil and crop responses in order to plan the next irrigation application


(But water is scarce)

But water is increasingly in short supply

(.. yet mismanaged )

However, few growers use scientific irrigation scheduling methods. Among the reasons that growers give for not adopting precision irrigation practices are:

  • Lacking information that helps them make a good business decision
  • Lack of integration of the various parts of an irrigation system
  • Lack of actionable data at the time when irrigation plans to be made and/or changed


(NEEA starts stuff)

Agricultural irrigation accounts for 85% of the Pacific Northwest's region’s total agricultural electrical energy use. In November 2011, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEAA) brought together an important cross-section of the industry to discuss optimization of agricultural water and energy.  In these meetings the lack of data standards was identified as a fundamental barrier to reaching the goal of reducing water and energy usage. The participants initiated the Precision Ag Irrigation Language (PAIL) project within AgGateway, a non-profit organization focused on helping growers, ag retailers, and supply chain partners capture, transfer, and manage data. The goal of the PAIL project is to provide an industry-wide format that will enable the exchange and use of data from irrigation management systems, which are currently stored in a variety of proprietary formats. 

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