On Tuesday, 29th November 2016, the first in a series of workshops to establish a system of decision-making on irrigation was held at the headquarters of ROD agency for Development Ajdovščina. The workshop was performed in the framework of the project LIFE ViVaCCAdapt – Adapting to the impacts of climate change in the Vipava Valley.
At the workshop they presented to the gathered growers, interested in participating in the development of irrigation system, the basics of the importance and ways of measuring soil water. Growers had a closer look at the various measuring instruments and became familiar with the type of measuring instruments to be installed on their plots to measure soil water. The participants were acquainted with the idea of an app, combining measurements of soil water of the farmland with irrigated culture and rainfall forecast. The application will process all these data and offer to the user an advice on how and when to irrigate his plot.
Due to a lot of interest and numerous attendance a dynamic discussion on possible challenges in setting up the system developed. The participants agreed that the implementation of the experiment will require a lot of collaboration, since there has never had before such a large project, focusing on the wise use of water in the river basin. Project LIFE ViVaCCAdapt will include over 30 growers on about 70 hectares. Due to the large interest the workshop will be repeated in December 2016.
The project and the workshop were also presented in a radio programme, covering agricultural topics, Kmetijska oddaja (in Slovene). More information on the project is available on project’s website and Facebook page.
