Soil moisture monitoring improves agriculture, both ecologically and economically. Then, I’ll examine some of soil moisture monitoring’s less widely known—yet still extremely important—use cases. Finally, to aid you in your soil moisture monitoring goals, I’ll also investigate several different options for soil moisture monitoring.
The California Almond Board once announced that it takes 1,100 gallons of water to produce just one pound of almonds. The outrage was largely understandable—while nutritious and tasty, growing almonds requires a jaw-dropping amount of water. Lost in the stats was another figure: Alfalfa uses more water per acre than almonds—and many other crops aren’t particularly efficient, either.
Something was lost in all the almond-hype: the fact that almonds are merely one of hundreds of crops grown in the United States every year, crops that consume 118 billion gallons of water every day. So, while almonds are the poster child of water-guzzlers, it’s worth noting that they’re a child with a large extended family.
The California Almond Board once announced that it takes 1,100 gallons of water to produce just one pound of almonds. The outrage was largely understandable—while nutritious and tasty, growing almonds requires a jaw-dropping amount of water. Lost in the stats was another figure:
But, did you know that alfalfa uses more water per acre than almonds? Many other crops aren’t particularly efficient, either.