The Soil Moisture Dashboard is a powerful tool for managing irrigation and understanding soil conditions across the farm. Today, we’ll focus on the top middle portion of the dashboard, which features the 7-Day Soil Moisture Trend and the Soil Moisture Sensor List. Together, these components provide valuable insights into soil health, allowing farmers to make informed decisions that maximize water use efficiency and improve crop productivity.
7-Day Soil Moisture Trend: Visualizing and Predicting Moisture Levels
The 7-Day Soil Moisture Trend panel provides a dynamic look at how soil moisture levels are changing over time. This chart displays historical data, giving farmers insight into how their irrigation practices have impacted moisture levels throughout the past week. Additionally, farmers can drill down to specific soil depths—12, 24, 36, and 48 inches—to understand moisture conditions at various levels within the soil profile. This capability is particularly useful for crops with deeper root systems that may require more water at greater depths.
One of the most powerful features of this trend panel is its ability to forecast soil moisture levels if the farmer chooses to look forward in time. By incorporating weather forecasts, historical soil moisture data, and even climate change models, the dashboard can predict how moisture levels may change in the coming days. This predictive capability allows farmers to make proactive decisions, adjusting irrigation schedules ahead of anticipated changes. For instance, if dry weather is expected, the system can recommend increasing irrigation, whereas upcoming rainfall may suggest pausing irrigation to conserve water.
The trend panel is fully interactive, enabling farmers to select specific timeframes for analysis. Whether the goal is to examine the last 7 days or look at broader patterns over the coming days the tool provides flexibility to tailor the analysis to the farmer’s specific needs.
Soil Moisture Sensor List: Real-Time Monitoring Made Easy
Below the 7-Day Soil Moisture Trend panel is the Soil Moisture Sensor List, which provides a detailed overview of all the soil moisture sensors deployed across the farm. The sensors are organized by name, depth, moisture level, last reading time, and the type of soil being monitored. This list is crucial for keeping track of the performance and health of each sensor in real time, allowing farmers to quickly identify any issues that may require maintenance or recalibration.
The operational status of each sensor is also displayed, indicating whether a sensor is currently enabled and reporting data. Having this visibility helps farmers maintain confidence in the accuracy of the information displayed on the dashboard, ensuring that decisions are based on reliable, up-to-date data.
Another significant feature of the sensor list is the ability to adjust soil type on the fly. As conditions change throughout the season, the soil may require reclassification—for example, from sandy to a more loamy composition as organic matter is added. Farmers can easily update the soil type, which in turn recalibrates the sensor data to provide more accurate moisture readings. Additionally, the soil type can be fully customized using Terrestream’s special soil calibration services. This customization allows the sensor system to be finely tuned to the specific soil characteristics on the farm, leading to more precise irrigation management.
Bringing It All Together: Empowering Informed Irrigation Decisions
The 7-Day Soil Moisture Trend and Soil Moisture Sensor List are integral components of the Soil Moisture Dashboard, working together to provide a complete view of soil health. By visualizing trends, predicting future moisture levels, and maintaining accurate sensor data, these tools empower farmers to make informed, data-driven decisions about irrigation. This proactive approach not only helps conserve water but also ensures that crops receive the moisture they need at the right time, promoting healthier growth and higher yields.
