Greg Juul and his partner, Troy Betz, own and operate G2 Farming near Hermiston, Oregon. Their core business is irrigated potatoes, cultivating them on around half of their approximately 6,000 acres each year. “We rotate with fresh onions, alfalfa and grass seed as our primary crops,” Juul said, “and then we do some minor crops, such as seed corn and small vegetable crops like green peas and sweet corn.”

Those are sensitive crops, and their farm is located in an arid area of the state. “It’s high desert,” Juul explains. “Typically, the weather is dry and hot. Annual rainfall is 4-6 inches, so irrigation is a must in northeast Oregon.”

All of these factors made G2 Farming a natural to implement Valley Scheduling.^TM

Better Irrigation Decisions Based on Better Data
Valley Scheduling is an advanced management tool that helps growers make informed irrigation decisions based on data about soil, crop type, the crop’s stage of development and weather conditions. These inputs are entered, and Valley Scheduling delivers precise yet easy-to-understand recommendations to the grower’s mobile device or computer.

“We are currently utilizing Valley Scheduling on our high-value crops – potatoes and onions,” Juul said. “Those are the most sensitive to irrigation and the most critical in terms of irrigation timing.”

Valley Scheduling gives growers all of this information at the touch of a finger to help make good irrigation decisions each 24-hour period. “Valley Scheduling is another tool – almost another set of eyes in the field – as to where your soil moisture is at,” Juul said. “It even helps us forecast fertilizer and chemical applications, where we may speed up or slow down the pivots, so it gives you that tool, knowing what the trend is in real time, and it’s been extremely good for us.”

Point and Click Precision
Like most people, Juul says time is probably the most valuable resource he has.

“From our earliest discussions of implementing Scheduling, I’ve always said it’s got to save us time. Definitely, Valley Scheduling has done that for us,” Juul said.

Juul says it used to take two or three people 3-4 hours a day to make irrigation changes. “Valley Scheduling has allowed us to make those decisions in minutes, where in years past we had to go to each field. Today I can change it at the pivot point, I can change it remotely at my home, or I can change it with my phone anywhere in the world,” he said.

“It’s all at your fingertips, really. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

Trending in the Right Direction
Efficiency is the goal for G2 Farming. “When I came to the farm, we were farming about 2,000 to 2,500 acres and irrigating with three or four people. We’re now irrigating 5,000 to 6,000 acres a year and irrigating with one person,” Juul said. “Technology has made us very time efficient, and has made us very competitive in the management of irrigation costs.”

Valley Scheduling is the latest technological innovation that Juul has embraced to make their operation more productive. “It’s a time savings tool that allows me to see the entire farm at any given time. You can see all of your history at a click. It’s information that you can use to make good irrigation management decisions on a daily basis.”