CUSTOMIZED LAND SURFACE MODELING IN A SOIL-CROP SYSTEM FOR IRRIGATION DECISION SUPPORT IN PRECISION AGRICULTURE

• US 20180164762A1
• Filed: 01/29/2018
• Published: 06/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DTN, LLC (TBG AG)
• Original Assignee: ClearAg, Inc. (TBG AG)
• Inventors: MEWES, JOHN J., HALE, ROBERT C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,139,797 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/167 Control by humidity of the soil itself or of devices simulating soil or of the atmosphere; Soil humidity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23005 Expert design system, uses modeling, simulation, to control design process
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2625 Sprinkler, irrigation, watering
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/10 in agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/22 Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion

Abstract

An irrigation modeling framework in precision agriculture utilizes a combination of weather data, crop data, and other agricultural inputs to create customized agronomic models for diagnosing and predicting a moisture state in a field, and a corresponding need for, and timing of, irrigation activities. Specific combinations of various agricultural inputs can be applied, together with weather information to identify or adjust water-related characteristics of crops and soils, to model optimal irrigation activities and provide advisories, recommendations, and scheduling guidance for targeted application of artificial precipitation to address specific moisture conditions in a soil system of a field.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

ingesting, as input data, weather and climatological information that includes at least one of historical field-level weather data and extended-range weather forecast data, crop-specific information relative to a particular field, soil profile data derived from one or more soil samples taken in the particular field over time, and field management data relating to crop and soil management practices in the particular field over time;

modeling the input data in a plurality of data processing modules within a computing environment in which the plurality of data processing modules are executed in conjunction with at least one specifically-configured processor, the data processing modules configured to assess a state of moisture content of a soil-crop system in the particular field over time, by

1) diagnosing and predicting expected weather conditions at or near the particular field from the weather and climatological information,

     2) aggregating the expected weather conditions, the crop-specific information, the soil profile data, and the field management data in a land surface model customized to simulate crop water usage over time, soil moisture depletion at multiple depths within the soil-crop system over time, and soil-water characteristics at the multiple depths relative to one or more crop growth stages over a crop growing season in the particular field, the soil-water characteristics including a depth profile of water extraction by the crop at the one or more growth stages, an adequacy of water supply at the multiple depths, and an impact of prior irrigation activity on the state of moisture content, and

     3) comparing actual crop moisture use relating to crop root water uptake from within the soil-crop system, and vertical variations in moisture content at the multiple depths, obtained from observations taken by one or more sensors over time in the particular field, to adjust one or more simulation parameters in the land surface model based on identified differences between the simulations and the observations taken by the one or more sensors for modeling the crop water usage, soil moisture depletion and soil-water characteristics at the multiple depths, and estimating moisture content in the soil-crop system at any point in the crop growing season in one more additional simulations; and

generating, as output data, a root zone moisture profile representing the state of moisture content of the soil-crop system in the particular field over the crop growing season from the simulated crop water usage, soil moisture depletion and the soil-water characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the root zone moisture profile to an irrigation advisory tool configured to provide one or more irrigation recommendations to a user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the irrigation advisory tool is further configured to generate one or more advisories for the particular field, the one or more advisories including an indicator of soil water loss from evaporation and evapotranspiration, an indicator of forecasted precipitation, an indicator of one or both of cost reduction and waste-of-water reduction in geographical locations affected by drought, an indicator of irrigation requirements for achieving crop temperature and crop moisture thresholds, and an indicator of environmental impact from runoff of one or both of fertilizers and chemicals.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more irrigation recommendations include a site-specific variable rate irrigation recommendation representing an adjustable application of water at the one or more management zones, and a dynamic, crop-specific variable rate irrigation recommendation representing an adjustable application of water for different crops planted at the one or more management zones.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more irrigation recommendations include a recommendation to stop irrigation, a recommendation to reduce irrigation over crop growth stages occurring late during a growing season, an irrigation recommendation to maintain soil moisture at a level that is consistent with a prior crop growing season, and a recommendation for irrigation of a particular field that is either pre-planting or post-planting irrigation depending on a crop type planted in the field, and a recommendation to reduce irrigation as a predicted harvest time for the crop approaches.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the soil-water characteristics further include an amount of water applied to the soil system through effective rainfall and irrigation, an amount of water that is retained in a dynamically-growing root zone, and an amount of water depleted from the dynamically-growing root zone.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the crop-specific information further includes one or more of crop type data, planting data, crop growth data, growth stage-dependent parameters indicative of the one or more crop growth stages, crop relative maturity data, crop planting depth and row spacing data, crop post-maturity dry-down characteristics, and targeted crop moisture or temperature thresholds.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the input data further includes irrigation-specific information relative to past irrigation activity for the particular field, the irrigation-specific information including data representing an amount of water applied to the particular field, and data representing a water delivery mechanism, the water delivery mechanism including one or more of flood irrigation, drip irrigation, or spray irrigation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the input data further includes field-level remotely-sensed imagery data of the particular field.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the land surface model is further configured to model one or more of mean average air temperature and a transpiration rate.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically developing an artificial intelligence soil-water model to analyze time-varying soil-water characteristics of a soil system, by building a comprehensive dataset for the land surface model models and applying the artificial intelligence soil-water model to predict the state of the moisture content in the soil-crop system in any field at any selected time.

12. A method, comprising:

within a computing environment comprised of a computer processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the computer processor and having program instructions stored therein, the computer processor being operable to execute the program instructions to assess a state of moisture content of a soil-crop system in a particular field over time in an irrigation advisory model by;

predicting expected weather conditions impacting moisture conditions at multiple depths of a crop root zone in the soil-crop system in the particular field, by applying weather and climatological information comprised of historical field-level weather data and extended-range weather forecast data to one or more predictive numerical weather models;

simulating crop water usage over time, soil moisture depletion at multiple depths within the soil-crop system over time and soil-water characteristics at the multiple depths relative to one or more crop growth stages over a crop growing season in the particular field, by aggregating the expected weather conditions, crop-specific information, soil profile data derived from one or more soil samples taken in the particular field over time, and the field management data in a customized land surface model, and comparing actual crop moisture use relating to crop root water uptake from within the soil-crop system, and vertical variations in moisture content at the multiple depths, obtained from observations taken by one or more sensors over time in the particular field, to adjust one or more simulation parameters in the land surface model based on identified differences between the simulations and the observations taken by the one or more sensors for modeling the crop water usage, soil moisture depletion and soil-water characteristics at the multiple depths, and estimating moisture content in the soil-crop system at any point in the crop growing season in one more additional simulations,

wherein the soil-water characteristics include a depth profile of water extraction by the crop at the one or more growth stages, an adequacy of water supply at the multiple depths, and an impact of prior irrigation activity on the state of moisture content, to profile root zone moisture from the simulated from the simulated crop water usage over time, soil moisture depletion and the soil-water characteristics; and

preparing one or more irrigation recommendations for an application of artificial precipitation for the particular field over time from the profile of root zone moisture.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising applying the profile of root zone moisture to an irrigation advisory tool.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the irrigation advisory tool is further configured to generate one or more irrigation advisories for the particular field from the profile of root zone moisture, the one or more advisories including an indicator of soil water loss from evaporation and evapotranspiration, an indicator of forecasted precipitation, an indicator of one or both of cost reduction and waste-of-water reduction in geographical locations affected by drought, an indicator of irrigation requirements for achieving crop temperature and crop moisture thresholds, and an indicator of environmental impact from runoff of one or both of fertilizers and chemicals.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more irrigation recommendations include a site-specific variable rate irrigation recommendation representing an adjustable application of water at the one or more management zones, and a dynamic, crop-specific variable rate irrigation recommendation representing an adjustable application of water for different crops planted at the one or more management zones.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more irrigation recommendations include a recommendation to stop irrigation, a recommendation to reduce irrigation over crop growth stages occurring late during a growing season, an irrigation recommendation to maintain soil moisture at a level that is consistent with a prior crop growing season, and a recommendation for irrigation of a particular field that is either pre-planting or post-planting irrigation depending on a crop type planted in the field, and a recommendation to reduce irrigation as a predicted harvest time for the crop approaches.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the soil-water characteristics further include an amount of water applied to the soil system through effective rainfall and irrigation, an amount of water that is retained in a dynamically-growing root zone, and an amount of water depleted from the dynamically-growing root zone, and wherein the crop-specific information further includes one or more of crop type data, planting data, crop growth data, growth stage-dependent parameters indicative of the one or more crop growth stages, crop relative maturity data, crop planting depth and row spacing data, crop post-maturity dry-down characteristics, and targeted crop moisture or temperature thresholds.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the applying the expected weather conditions, crop-specific information, the soil profile data, and the field management data in a customized land surface model further includes applying irrigation-specific information relative to past irrigation activity for the particular field, the irrigation-specific information including data representing an amount of water applied to the particular field, and data representing a water delivery mechanism, the water delivery mechanism including one or more of flood irrigation, drip irrigation, or spray irrigation.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the applying the expected weather conditions, the crop-specific information, the soil profile data, and the field management data in a customized land surface model further includes applying field-level remotely-sensed imagery data of the particular field.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the customized land surface model is further configured to model one or more of mean average air temperature and a transpiration rate.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically developing an artificial intelligence soil-water model to analyze time-varying soil-water characteristics of a soil-crop system, by building a comprehensive dataset for the customized land surface model and applying the artificial intelligence soil-water model to predict the moisture state in a soil-crop system in any field at any selected time.

22. A system comprising:

a computing environment including at least one computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored therein and a computer processor operable to execute the program instructions to assess a state of moisture content of a soil-crop system in the particular field over time in an irrigation advisory model within a plurality of data processing modules, the plurality of data processing modules including;

a weather modeling module configured to predict expected weather conditions impacting moisture conditions at multiple depths of the soil-crop system in the particular field, by applying weather and climatological information comprised of historical field-level weather data and extended-range weather forecast data to one or more predictive numerical weather models;

one or more modules configured to simulate crop water usage over time, soil moisture depletion at multiple depths within the soil-crop system over time and soil-water characteristics at the multiple depths relative to one or more crop growth stages over a crop growing season in the particular field, by aggregating the expected weather conditions, crop-specific information, soil profile data derived from one or more soil samples taken in the particular field over time, and the field management data in a customized land surface model, and comparing actual crop moisture use relating to crop root water uptake from within the soil-crop system, and vertical variations in moisture content at the multiple depths, obtained from observations taken by one or more sensors over time in the particular field, to adjust one or more simulation parameters in the land surface model based on identified differences between the simulations and the observations taken by the one or more sensors for modeling the crop water usage, soil moisture depletion and soil-water characteristics at the multiple depths, and estimating moisture content in the soil-crop system at any point in the crop growing season in one more additional simulations,

wherein the soil-water characteristics include a depth profile of water extraction by the crop at the one or more growth stages, an adequacy of water supply at the multiple depths, and an impact of prior irrigation activity on the state of moisture content, to profile root zone moisture from the simulated crop water usage over time, soil moisture depletion and the soil-water characteristics; and

an irrigation scheduling module configured to generate one or more irrigation recommendations for an application of artificial precipitation for the particular field over time from the profile of root zone moisture.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the profile of root zone moisture is applied to an irrigation advisory tool configured to generate one or more irrigation advisories for the particular field from the profile of root zone moisture, the one or more advisories including an indicator of soil water loss from evaporation and evapotranspiration, an indicator of forecasted precipitation, an indicator of one or both of cost reduction and waste-of-water reduction in geographical locations affected by drought, an indicator of irrigation requirements for achieving crop temperature and crop moisture thresholds, and an indicator of environmental impact from runoff of one or both of fertilizers and chemicals.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more irrigation recommendations include a site-specific variable rate irrigation recommendation representing an adjustable application of water at the one or more management zones, and a dynamic, crop-specific variable rate irrigation recommendation representing an adjustable application of water for different crops planted at the one or more management zones.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more irrigation recommendations include a recommendation to stop irrigation, a recommendation to reduce irrigation over crop growth stages occurring late during a growing season, an irrigation recommendation to maintain soil moisture at a level that is consistent with a prior crop growing season, and a recommendation for irrigation of a particular field that is either pre-planting or post-planting irrigation depending on a crop type planted in the field, and a recommendation to reduce irrigation as a predicted harvest time for the crop approaches.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the soil-water characteristics further include an amount of water applied to the soil system through effective rainfall and irrigation, an amount of water that is retained in a dynamically-growing root zone, and an amount of water depleted from the dynamically-growing root zone, and wherein the crop-specific information further includes one or more of crop type data, planting data, crop growth data, growth stage-dependent parameters indicative of the one or more crop growth stages, crop relative maturity data, crop planting depth and row spacing data, crop post-maturity dry-down characteristics, and targeted crop moisture or temperature thresholds.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein irrigation-specific information relative to past irrigation activity for the particular field is also applied to the coupled crop and soil simulation models of one or more physical and empirical characteristics impacting the state of moisture content at multiple depths in the soil-crop system, the irrigation-specific information including data representing an amount of water applied to the particular field, and data representing a water delivery mechanism, the water delivery mechanism including one or more of flood irrigation, drip irrigation, or spray irrigation.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein field-level remotely-sensed imagery data of the particular field is also applied to the customized land surface model to simulate soil-water characteristics in the crop root zone relative to one or more crop growth stages of a crop in the particular field.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein the customized land surface model is further configured to model one or more of mean average air temperature and a transpiration rate.

30. The system of claim 22, further comprising an artificial intelligence module to analyze time-varying soil-water characteristics of a soil system, by building a comprehensive dataset for the customized land surface model and apply an artificial intelligence soil-water model to predict the moisture state in a soil system in any field at any selected time.