Mobile app Helps Tree Crop Growers
Protect Water Quality
Tree
crop growers have a new tool to help them assess the potential impact their
growing practices may have on water quality.
Know Your H2O, an iPad app
developed by the UC Cooperative Extension Agricultural Water Quality Research
and Education Program in San Diego, asks growers a series of questions about
their growing practices, then suggests Best Management Practices based on UC
research that can reduce runoff or leaching of contaminants from orchards into
water.
Although
there are many sources of water pollution, runoff from farms may contain contaminant
levels that exceed water quality standards.
Runoff from agricultural operations
can pick up and carry natural and man-made pollutants, including fertilizers,
salts, pesticides and sediments to lakes, rivers, wetlands and beaches,
according to Loretta M. Bates, UC Cooperative Extension staff research
associate, who leads the Agricultural Water Quality Research and Education
Program in San Diego County.
Avocados
and citrus are major tree crops in San Diego County, but "the app should
be useful for growers of any tree crops," says Bates.
The
self-assessment questions fall into the following categories:
A. Property
Management
B. Road Management & Erosion Control
C. Irrigation Practices
D.
Leaching & Runoff
E. Nutrient Assessment & Fertilizer Management
F.
Integrated Pest Management
Internet access isn't needed for the iPad to
perform the assessment, but you will need connectivity to email the results to
yourself because the application won't store the data.
"In
the near future, we will have apps available for nursery and greenhouse growers
and the apps will be available for use with devices other than iPads,"
Bates says.
The
tree crops app was developed by Ryan Krason, digital media specialist for UC
Cooperative Extension in San Diego County, and Valerie Mellano, former UC
Cooperative Extension advisor in San Diego County, with a third-party app
developer. Krason and Bates are currently working on customizing the app for
nursery and greenhouse operations.
The
iPad app for tree crops is free and can be downloaded from the iTunes store.
Search for "agricultural water quality."
For
tree crop growers who don't have an iPad, the self-assessments can be printed
off the Web at http://ucanr.org/sites/agwaterquality/files/121819.pdf
and completed by hand. The Agricultural Water Quality Research and Education
Program also offers printable self-assessments for greenhouse and nursery businesses and animal agriculture operations on the Web.
While the iPad app will generate a report of suggestions, the print versions
offer statements that address a group of questions.
Labels: Know your H2O, Lorretta M. Bastes, Pam Kan-Rice, tree crops water quality, UC Ryan Krason
