Farm Irrigation Assessment

What the assessment measures

Four things, in the order they decide the design:

1. The water source

The source is the project's foundation, and it gets the most time:

• Quantity. A borehole: its yield (litres per hour) — measured, not assumed, because the number that matters is the dry-season yield, not the rainy-season one. A dam or river: the available flow and its seasonal behaviour, and the storage question. A tank: its capacity and its refill source.
• Quality. What the water carries — silt, algae, iron, organics — the assessment that sizes the filtration. A jar of the water, a look at what it does sitting in the sun, and (where it's available) the local experience of what that source does to drip systems. The water quality guide is the same assessment, written out.
• Position. The height of the source relative to the field — the number that decides gravity or pump, and (for gravity) whether the gravity actually works. Roughly 1 metre of height gives about 0.1 bar; the 12-metre tank that looks like a good idea from the road may be 3 metres above the field.

2. The farm layout

The blocks, the crops (or the plan for them), the bed dimensions, the spacing — the measurements the drip design is built from. The terrain gets mapped too: the slopes, the access, the routes the mainline will take. A sketch and a walk beat a description — which is why the assessment is a visit, not a form.

3. The soil

Soil type sets two design variables: the emitter flow (sandy soils want shorter, more frequent runs; clay wants longer, less frequent) and the irrigation schedule itself. The assessment reads it from the field — texture, drainage behaviour, how the water moves through the beds after a run — and records what the schedule is built on.

4. The existing system (where there is one)

On existing farms, the assessment maps what's in the ground: the pipe sizes, the line type, the filter (or its absence), the pump's real behaviour, the zones. That map is what the upgrade design is built from — and it's also why a lot of "repair" calls turn out to be upgrade conversations, discovered properly instead of guessed at.

What you get from the assessment

• The numbers. The source yield and quality, the gravity/pump decision, the soil's scheduling character — the facts the design stands on.
• The recommendation. The system shape that fits the farm — the zones, the line specification by crop, the head assembly, the automation level — in plain language, with the trade-offs where they're real.
• The basis for the quote. The quotation is built from the assessment's numbers, which is why a post-assessment quote is a specification with a price, not a number with a hope.
• The plan, if you're not ready. The assessment is useful whether or not you build with us — the numbers are yours, the recommendation is written down, and the decision can take the time it needs.

When the assessment is the whole job

Some farms only need the answer: "will my borehole run this block?" "do I need a second source?" "is my existing system right for the new crop?" Those are assessment questions, and the answer is a short written note — no project attached. It's the service that exists because the questions are real even when the build isn't, and the note costs a fraction of a wrong build.

Booking the visit

Send the farm details (location, size, crop, water source) through the quote form with "assessment" noted, or contact us directly. The visit is a working session — bring the questions, the photos of the existing system if you have them, and the space to walk the field. The written recommendation follows within a few working days of the visit.