Smart and precise irrigation - now with LiteFarm!

Precision irrigation made simple for pivot-based farms

We’re excited to release a new feature on LiteFarm that brings hands-free, precision irrigation to center pivot systems. This update is part of our Smart Irrigation project in partnership with Ensemble Scientific and Farming Smarter, designed to help farmers save water, time, and effort—while giving crops exactly what they need.

Traditional pivot irrigation systems often run on a timer, without considering current weather or crop needs. This can lead to overwatering or underwatering your fields, wasting water and energy, or risking crop health.

With Smart Irrigation, we’re introducing an intelligent, data-driven way to irrigate that responds to real-time soil and weather conditions.

💡 The Solution

Using soil moisture sensors, crop and weather data, and your existing pivot infrastructure, a smart irrigation plan is generated daily by Ensemble Scientific. LiteFarm acts as your control center that lets you see, understand, act and record the plan, all from one place.

This feature is built for:

• Farm owners or managers using center pivot irrigation

• Regions with low rainfall or high dependence on irrigation systems

Please note that at this point we are able to support only the sensors from Ensemble Scientific. We plan to extend the feature to more sensors and sensor data in the future roadmap. If you have ideas related to sensors or irrigation, feel free to submit or vote for an idea here.

What You Can Do on LiteFarm

Here’s what the new Smart Irrigation features let you do:

1. Digitally Represent Your Farm

View your farm, fields, and subplots on a satellite map directly in LiteFarm.

2. Automatic Sensor Setup and List View of Sensors

No need for manual setup. Once your organization ID is connected, your Ensemble sensors will appear in LiteFarm automatically along with all their details and locations. View all your sensors and their data in a clean, scrollable list.

3. See Where Your Sensors Are

Sensors are shown right on the map, so you can understand what part of your field each one covers.

4. Real-Time Data Access

Check near real-time data from each sensor, including temperature, soil water content and soil water potential. Use filters to see data within a specific time frame.

5. Get a Daily Irrigation Plan for Pivot

You do not have to set up pivot in LiteFarm. If you are using Ensemble sensors, you can write to LiteFarm or be set up with one of the partner organization on this project.

You will receive a daily irrigation plan in your LiteFarm notifications. Depending on your pivot type:

• Uniform rate (URI): See one suggested application depth and input it manually.

• Variable rate (VRI): See different application depths for each irrigation zone. You can also get a downloadable VRI file that is accepted by the pivot.

You will still have to manually input the value into a URI pivot and the file into a VRI pivot. We are planning for hands-free integration to pivots as a future enhancement.

6. Approve & Track Irrigation Tasks

Approve a plan and automatically create an irrigation task for your farm team. Once marked complete, it becomes a permanent record - helping you analyze water use and track irrigation over time.

7. Make Better Decisions with Data

• Monitor soil moisture trends over time to plan future crop cycles.

• See key factors influencing your irrigation plan like weather, wind, predicted rainfall, and crop water demand (evapotranspiration).

• Identify wet and dry zones in your field if using a VRI system.

• View historical water use for each pivot task under the “Tasks” tab in LiteFarm.

📌 In Summary

With Smart Irrigation in LiteFarm, you can:

• Automatically receive data-informed irrigation plans

• Reduce manual effort and guesswork

• Save water and optimize usage

• Keep better records for compliance and insights

  
  

Want to get started? Reach out to your LiteFarm support contact or project partner to register your pivot system.

Have feedback or need help navigating this feature? Write to support@litefarm.org