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Cloud-Based Soil Moisture Monitoring

Agreement Number
NR20-13G010
Awardee Name
Clemson University
Grant Type
On-Farm Trials
Project Title
Cloud-Based Soil Moisture Monitoring
Awardee State/Territory
South Carolina
Involved States/territories
South Carolina
Award Year
2019
Start Date
End Date
Award Amount
$497,189.00
Production/Use
Farmland Agricultural
Resource Concern (Broad)
Energy
Water
Resource Concern (Specific)
Energy efficiency of farming/ranching practices and field operations
Field sediment, nutrient and pathogen loss
Inefficient energy use
Inefficient irrigation water use
Nutrients
Nutrients transported to groundwater
Nutrients transported to surface water
Water Quality
Conservation Practice(s)
Irrigation Water Management
Nutrient Management
Project Background
 The overarching goal of this project is to assist farmers in the Southeastern Coastal Plain region adopt innovative and proven sensor-based and site-specific irrigation scheduling technologies and to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of these technologies. Scientists at Clemson University have successfully developed a cost-effective sensor-based irrigation scheduling technology, known as “Clemson Water Management System” (CWMS) for crop production, that is “grower ready”. This concept combines sensor-based and site-specific water application technologies with wireless
network and Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems and can automatically collect data from moisture
sensors, transmit the data to the internet in real time, and store the data on a Cloud-based server which
can be accessed remotely or from a handheld device. This will help growers enhance water use
efficiency and farm profits while substantially reducing water and Energy use, erosion, and
leaching of chemicals such as pesticides and soil nutrients, by applying water only where needed
at the optimum rates. This affordable technology is designed to assist farming operations of
all sizes including historically underserved producers.
Project Scale
Multi-farm
Project targeted to Historically Underserved producers?
No