A farmer from Almerimar, Almeria, started to grow tomatoes two seasons ago. The usual in Almerimar, in the Poniente Almeriense area, where the farm is located, is an approximate production of 10kg/m2 per harvest.
On the farm, traditional venturi machines were used which, among other disadvantages, when in operation, generate a loss of load that prevents the water from reaching the highest levels in farms with a steep slope, as well as a lower volumetric precision in the dosage and difficulty in the regulation of fertilizer injection, which results in high costs and poor fertilizer management.
Acid management is also a problem due to its handling and difficult regulation.
Traditional machines were replaced by a team of 5 advanced control dosing pumps managed by the ITC Water Controller 3000 irrigation controller.
It doses with surgical precision and the PH and EC set points are quickly reached and maintained throughout the irrigation cycle through a network of algorithms calculation.
The equipment installed was:
- 3 Dostec AC diaphragm metering pumps for fertilizers.
- Dositec mA electromagnetic pump for phosphoric acid.
- Dositec mA electromagnetic pump for nitric acid.
- WC Controller 3000 for pump control and irrigation management.
All equipment configured according to the instructions of an expert.
ITC dosing pumps allow control of the volumes and flow rates delivered to the irrigation regardless of fertilizer density or viscosity, water pressure or speed at the injection point or the height of the product in the source tank.
Pump dosing is performed with surgical precision, pH and EC set points are reached quickly and maintained throughout the irrigation cycle through a network of algorithms calculation.
The cultivated table tomato, Stellar variety, has achieved a good price in the market thanks to its regularity, good caliber and absence of defects and the technology based on ITC’s advanced control dosing pumps allowed to apply in a rigorous and accurate way the optimal nutrient balances for the crop at each moment of its development, avoiding also losses caused by deficiencies or imbalances.
The problems encountered with the previous venturis machine, which generated a loss of load, preventing the water from reaching the highest levels of the farm, have disappeared.
The assistant applications are used by the farmer for remote management of the equipment and allow him to generate reports on the activity of the ITC equipment managed on the farm.
Thanks to the use of ITC dosing pumps, agronomic advice from experts and the good work of the farmer himself, a production of 17Kg/m2 of table tomato has been achieved, well above the usual results (around 10Kg) in the Almerimar area.
Apart from the increase in production, a volume and quantity of fertilizer in the order of 3 per thousand has been managed, lower than the standards of the area, maintaining dosage proportional to the instantaneous flow rate of high precision and in low proportion (it is possible to set up to 0.001%) or setting EC and pH parameters obtaining stable and precise readings coinciding with the setpoints established by the technical advisor of the farm.
In this way, ITC’s technology has allowed a reduction of up to 20% in the volumes of fertilizer handled, greater volumetric precision in dosing and speed and stability in obtaining EC and pH readings. Therefore, by reducing operating costs and with an investment equal to that of other technologies, the net profit of the operation increases considerably.
