Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Clemson’s public service agriculture component, called Clemson PSA , has a free publication called IMPACTS. The 2016 winter issue, available at your local Extension office or through Lehotsky Hall on campus, focuses on precision agriculture, including water monitoring, varied fertilizer rates, and also how drones are being used for diagnostic purposes.
After the droughts the upstate suffered last summer, it isn’t a surprise that this issue of Impacts also has an update on how legislators hope to collect data on water withdrawals and discharge; recognizing that water is becoming a limited resource. Clemson researcher Jose Payero received $75,000 from the USDA to put sensors on one farm in every county in the state to scientifically determine when irrigation is needed, saving water and preventing erosion and nitrogen leaching and runoff that can harm our surface water sources.
