Fertigation – answers
1 Temperatures are hitting record highs.
2 In much of the south-east of England – because there have been ‘drought-orders in place’ – i.e. regulations introduced when there is a drought.
3 No, quite the opposite, people are more and more concerned that these conditions will become the norm in the future
4 1) farming 2) horticulture and 3) water-consumption
5 Solutions for a water-scarce Britain
6 No – although farmers are often competing for the same water as consumers, they face different problems.
7 In 2012
8 1) How to minimise the wasting of water – how to reduce the ‘over-abstraction of water’ so rivers do not run dry because too much water has been taken out of them
and 2) How to reduce the contamination of water.
9 In Southern Europe
10 Because it means the combination of fertiliser or fertilisation & irrigation.
11 You also put fertiliser into the solution at the same time.
12 No, growing crops in fields involves a different set of considerations
13 Yes
14 Israel Egypt Morocco and Spain
15 Because water is an expensive and scarce resource.
16 No, we’ve been able to ‘sit back and grumble about too much rain’, but now crops in the UK need water more than they used to.
17 He points out that you often see large puddles, showing that the water has just run off the fields and been wasted.
18 If people get the timing of watering wrong – the control is not accurate enough – it is ‘crude’.
19 1) it delivers water when it’s needed, and then 2) delivers nutrients when necessary.
20a It only gets applied once or twice, and to ensure plants get the nutrients at a later stage, people put more in than the minimum – they use more than is necessary.
b If they use a little and often they can use less.
21 3 years
22 Lettuces and runner-beans
23 Yes, Dr Monaghan mentions the team of researchers at Warwick university have worked with Tesco, Geest, Intercrop, Bomfords, Jetco etc.
Their website mentions they have worked with JE Piccaver & Co. (Gedney Marsh), ADC Bioscientific, Anglian Water Services Ltd, Biohybrids International Ltd, Bomfords, Fairfield Control Systems Ltd, Intercrop Ltd, Kemira Growhow Oy, Chichester Crop Consultants, Geest Foods Ltd, Tesco Stores Ltd, Earthcare Environmental Ltd, Delta-T Devices, and Field (GB) Ltd.
22 33% / one third saving for lettuce, and nearly 50% / ½ saving for runner beans
23 1) Using less fertiliser brings the cost of producing food down
2) Its use lessens the environmental impact of fertiliser.
24 It’s like ‘a guy ………………………….on a motorbike turning a tap on’ – he means people are using an immense amount of resources to supply a disproportionately small amount of something.
25 Dynamic fertigation is a system which responds to the environment. It is a system that can respond to met data – (weather forecasts) – if rain is forecast, the irrigation system doesn’t switch on. It is a waste of resources if you fertilise or irrigate crops 20 minutes before a heavy rainstorm, because the water just gets flushed away.The automated system also responds to soil conditions because it measures soil moisture automatically and adjusts the watering requirements accordingly.