Irrigate on demand,
not on a timer
Multi-parameter weather stations measuring solar radiation, temperature, humidity and wind on the holding, so irrigation responds to calculated crop water demand rather than to a schedule set in advance.
A schedule irrigates the calendar, not the crop
Irrigation set to a timer applies water on a day rather than in response to a need, which means it is wrong in both directions across a season. Water goes on when the crop did not need it, and does not go on when it did.
Both errors cost. Over-application is water, energy and pumping cost, and on some soils it is nutrient leaching and a compliance question. Under-application is yield, and it is not recoverable once the growth stage has passed.
The information that would fix it is not complicated. Crop water demand is calculated from solar radiation, temperature, humidity and wind, and those are measurable on the holding rather than estimated from a station some distance away.
One holding. Multiple measurement points.
A farm is not one measurement environment.
Wind at the field boundary can be different from the regional forecast. Conditions inside a grain store are different from those outside it. Water levels change with use and rainfall. Machinery develops wear while the rest of the operation continues around it.
Spray application and drift
Whether you can spray is a wind decision, and the record of that decision is the thing an inspector or a neighbour asks to see.
- MaxiMet GMX500 wind, temperature, humidity and pressure in one unit
- WindSonic 60 0 to 60 m/s, 0.5 kg, mounts on the sprayer
- MaxiMet GMX200 wind only, 0.5 kg, for a field-edge mast
Field weather station
The farm and the nearest official station are usually tens of kilometres and one valley apart, and the decisions are made on the farm.
- MaxiMet GMX551 wind, T, H, P, solar and rainfall in one housing
- MetConnect THP Pt100 and analogue inputs for soil probes
- MaxiMet GMX550 wind, T, H, P and rainfall without solar
Irrigation scheduling
Irrigating on a timer wastes water and energy. Irrigating on measured evapotranspiration and rainfall does not.
- MaxiMet GMX551 solar, wind, T, H, P and rainfall for the ET calculation
- MaxiMet GMX301 solar radiation only, 0 to 1600 W per square metre
- TruMet PW100 optical rainfall, 0 to 200 mm/hr, no bucket to block
Glasshouse and polytunnel climate
Vents, screens and heating all respond to outside conditions, and a control system acting on yesterday’s assumption costs a crop rather than a day.
- MetConnect THP temperature 0.2 degrees C, humidity 1.5 percent RH
- MaxiMet GMX501 wind, T, H, P and solar for vent and screen control
- Blade position sensors non-contact vent and screen actuator feedback
Grain store and crop storage
Stored grain is a season of work sitting in a shed, and it is lost to temperature and moisture rather than to anything dramatic.
- MetConnect THP temperature and humidity, Pt100 input for probes
- MaxiMet GMX300 temperature, humidity and pressure, no wind
- MaxiMet GMX400 adds rainfall for the outside reference
Livestock housing and ventilation
Housed stock lose condition to heat and humidity before anyone sees a problem, and the ventilation control needs to know what is happening outside.
- MetConnect THP temperature 0.2 degrees C, humidity 1.5 percent RH
- WindMaster 3-axis air-flow measurement for ventilation control
- MaxiMet GMX500 outside reference for the shed control system
Slurry, water and fuel tanks
A slurry store overtopping is a pollution incident with a fine attached, and the level is usually checked by looking.
- LevelSlick FEP coated for viscous and particulate liquids
- LevelPro stainless steel, IP66 and IP68, no moving parts
- DD1615 level display local display at the store
Tractor and machinery condition
A machine goes down in the two weeks of the year it is needed, and the wear that stopped it was in the oil months earlier.
- WearDetect oil debris sensing for ferrous wear particles
- LevelLite fuel and hydraulic level, IP68, voltage or current output
- Blade position sensors non-contact implement and actuator position
Rainfall measurement
Rainfall decides travel, application windows and irrigation, and a gauge that blocks with straw dust stops reporting in harvest.
- TruMet PW100 optical, 0 to 200 mm/hr, 5 percent, no moving parts
- MaxiMet GMX603 integrated optical rainfall, 5 percent or better
- MaxiMet GMX551 rainfall alongside wind, T, H, P and solar
Soil and evapotranspiration
Crop water demand is calculated from solar radiation, temperature, humidity and wind, so the weather station is doing agronomy rather than reporting.
- MaxiMet GMX551 all four ET inputs plus rainfall in one housing
- MetConnect THP four-wire Pt100 to IEC 60751 for soil probes
- MaxiMet GMX301 solar radiation, 0 to 1600 W per square metre
Frost risk and protection
Frost protection runs all night on the strength of a temperature reading, and it costs money whether or not the frost arrives.
- MetConnect THP temperature accuracy 0.2 degrees C, Pt100 input
- MaxiMet GMX400 temperature, humidity, pressure and rainfall
- WindSonic M heated, operating to -40 degrees C
Harvest and drying decisions
Harvest moisture and drying cost are decided against the weather, in a window measured in days, on figures that came from somewhere else.
- MaxiMet GMX551 wind, T, H, P, solar and rainfall on the farm
- MetConnect THP humidity accuracy 1.5 percent RH at 25 degrees C
- MaxiMet GMX603 high-accuracy optical rainfall
Buffer zones and boundaries
Buffer zones and neighbour complaints both come down to wind direction at the time of application, recorded rather than remembered.
- MaxiMet GMX200 wind only, 0.5 kg, for a boundary mast
- WindSonic 60 0 to 360 degrees with no dead band
- MetConnect One logs to SDI-12, Modbus or a farm data platform
Worker conditions and heat
Seasonal labour works long days outdoors and in glasshouses, where air temperature understates what the heat is doing to them.
- MaxiMet GMX552 WBGT heat stress with wind, T, H and P, 1.29 kg, IP66
- MaxiMet GMX500 wind, temperature, humidity and pressure
- MetConnect THP reference temperature and humidity
Remote power and telemetry
A field station has no mains and no daily visit, so the power budget decides whether it is still reporting in February.
- MetConnect THP 5 to 30 V DC, less than 70 mA at 12 V DC
- MaxiMet GMX200 0.5 kg, single supply, minimal draw
- MetConnect One SDI-12 v1.3 into an existing farm logger
Calibration and assurance
Farm assurance schemes and application records are audited, and an instrument nobody has verified is a finding waiting to happen.
- UKAS-accredited air velocity calibration traceable certification for anemometers
- Multi-parameter calibration six parameters, equipment from any manufacturer
- Recalibration scheduling intervals, reminders and turnaround
Four measurements produce the demand figure
Solar radiation drives evaporation, and it is the parameter most often missing from a farm weather record. Without it the demand calculation falls back on temperature alone, which is a much weaker proxy.
Temperature and humidity set the vapour pressure deficit, which is what actually determines how hard the atmosphere is pulling water out of the crop and the soil.
Wind removes the saturated layer at the leaf surface and keeps the process going, so the same temperature and humidity produce a different demand on a windy day.
Rainfall closes the balance, and it needs to be measured as a rate and an accumulation on the holding rather than taken from a station that caught a different shower.
One station, the whole demand calculation
Assembling four parameters from separate instruments is four mountings, four cables and four things to configure, on a holding where nobody is employed to look after instruments.
MaxiMet brings wind, temperature, humidity, pressure, solar radiation and rainfall into one unit with one output string. GMX551 carries the broad parameter set, and GMX600 and GMX603 add optical rainfall measurement.
One unit, one cable, one output string
View MaxiMetMeasured on the holding, not nearby
Rainfall is the most spatially variable parameter on a farm. A shower that filled a gauge two miles away did not necessarily reach the block being irrigated, and the water balance is wrong by exactly that amount.
TruMet PW100 uses infrared optical measurement rather than a tipping mechanism, measuring 0 to 200 mm/hr with 5 percent accuracy and 0.1 mm resolution, with nothing to block with dust, chaff or insects.
The rain that fell here
View TruMet PW100Water use is increasingly accounted for
Abstraction licences, assurance schemes and environmental reporting all ask what was applied and on what basis. A schedule is an assumption; a demand calculation from measured conditions is a justification.
That record also has commercial value internally. Knowing how much water produced how much crop across a season is what makes the next irrigation investment arguable rather than intuitive.
Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited laboratory operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017, calibrating equipment from any manufacturer, so a holding with instruments from several suppliers stays on one schedule.
What an irrigated holding measures
The four parameters behind crop water demand, rainfall measured where it fell, and level sensing across storage and supply.
Conditions and demand
MaxiMet
All-in-one weather station, no moving parts
Solar radiation, temperature, humidity, wind, pressure and rainfall from one unit, which is the full input set for a demand figure.
TruMet PW100
Infrared optical rain gauge
Optical measurement to 0 to 200 mm/hr with nothing to block, so the water balance uses the rain that actually fell on the block.
MetConnect
Separable sensors for WMO-compliant siting
Separable sensors where the holding keeps a reference record at defined heights alongside the operational station.
Water and supply
Level sensing
Capacitive liquid level sensors
Continuous level in reservoirs, tanks and lagoons with no float, including a FEP-coated variant for dirty water.
WindSonic
Lightweight 2-axis ultrasonic anemometer
Lightweight wind measurement where irrigation application itself is wind sensitive, on booms and reels.
WearDetect
Oil debris sensor
Ferrous debris monitoring on irrigation pumps and drives, where a failure stops application at the worst moment of the season.
Where irrigation measurement does the work
Scheduling by demand
Applying to a calculated deficit rather than to a rota set before the season started.
High-value blocks
Crops where the cost of getting irrigation wrong in either direction is concentrated.
Supply planning
Continuous level so the season is planned against a figure rather than a look.
Licence compliance
A measured basis for what was applied and when.
Pumping efficiency
Reducing unnecessary application, which is where the pumping energy actually goes.
Outside reference
The external conditions that glasshouse and tunnel control responds to.
UKAS-accredited calibration for six measurement parameters
Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited calibration laboratory, Lab 0625, operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017. It provides calibration across gas and air flow, air velocity, liquid flow, pressure, temperature and humidity.
For a holding carrying anemometers, thermal probes, pressure instruments, thermometers, temperature and humidity probes and data loggers, one accredited laboratory keeps instruments bought at different times on a single traceable schedule.
Gas meters · Mass flow controllers · Dispensing systems
Anemometers · Pitot tubes · Thermal probes
Flow meters and sensors · Process control equipment
Gauges · Transducers · Manometers · Transmitters
Thermometers · Probes · Thermocouples · Data loggers
Hygrometers · Probes · Transmitters
Getting the demand figure to the controller
An irrigation decision is executed by a controller and reviewed in farm software, so the measurement has to reach an automation system and a record.
Gill supports environmental monitoring, industrial sensing, embedded electronics and systems integration, so growers, irrigation contractors and equipment suppliers can bring measurement into controllers and farm management platforms.
Whether the requirement is SDI-12 into a logger, Modbus into an irrigation controller, a serial string into farm software, or analogue into an existing channel, Gill engineers can support integration from specification through commissioning.
Outputs and options
- Modbus RTU : Site systems and SCADA
- SDI-12 & serial : Loggers and remote telemetry
- 4-20 mA & 0-10 V : Existing analogue channels
- Traceable calibration : So the record holds up on review
What the specification looks like in practice
Solar radiation actually measured
The parameter most often missing from a farm record, and the one the demand calculation depends on most.
One unit, the whole input set
MaxiMet returns wind, temperature, humidity, pressure, solar and rainfall on one cable and one output string.
Rainfall from the right field
Optical measurement on the holding, rather than a figure from a gauge that caught a different shower.
Nothing to block or clean
No tipping mechanism and no rotating anemometer element, on a site with dust, chaff and insects.
Level without a float
Capacitive sensing for reservoirs and tanks, with a FEP-coated option for dirty water.
Traceable for the licence
Independent UKAS-accredited calibration across six parameters, for equipment from any manufacturer.
Questions about irrigation and water management
Solar radiation, temperature, humidity and wind, with rainfall to close the balance. MaxiMet provides all of those from one unit, with GMX600 and GMX603 adding optical rainfall measurement.
Because rainfall is the most spatially variable parameter on a farm. A gauge two miles away may have caught a shower that never reached the block being irrigated, and the water balance is wrong by that amount.
Because there is no mechanism to block with dust, chaff or insects, which is what a farm environment does to a tipping bucket. TruMet PW100 measures 0 to 200 mm/hr with 5 percent accuracy and 0.1 mm resolution.
The station provides Modbus, SDI-12, serial and analogue outputs, so it can feed a controller or a logger. The engineering team can advise on the interface a particular controller expects.
Capacitive level sensing gives continuous level with no float, with LevelPro in stainless at IP66 and IP68 and LevelSlick FEP coated for dirty water.
Yes. Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited calibration laboratory, Lab 0625, operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017, calibrating equipment from any manufacturer across gas and air flow, air velocity, liquid flow, pressure, temperature and humidity.
Speak to our team
Tell us what you need to measure, where and under what conditions. We’ll help you work out the appropriate approach.
We aim to respond in one working day.