CAFRE (College of Agriculture, Food & Rural Enterprise) win UK award for water management

Delta-T Devices would like to congratulate Cathal Ellis and Martin Wooster of CAFRE for winning the ‘Exemplar project in Northern Ireland’ which recognises water efficiency achievements.

CAFRE currently use the Delta-T GP1 Data Logger and Soil Moisture sensors to automatically control irrigation in their Nursery stock tunnels. On-going work demonstrating best practice within the nursery stock and cut flower sectors use the Delta-T equipment to monitor irrigation performance. Staff also use SM150 Soil Moisture kits to carry out spot-checks on irrigation accuracy.

Read press release below to find out more about this prestigious award:

The Environment Agency and Waterwise UK Water Efficiency Awards are a celebration of the achievements of public, private and third sector organisations that ‘Shout’ about water efficiency, ‘Solve’ water demand challenges and simply ‘Save’ water.

At an award ceremony in Woking, Surrey, the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) was presented with the award for the ‘Exemplar project in Northern Ireland’. Cathal Ellis and Martin Wooster, who are based at Greenmount Campus in Antrim, received the award. The award recognises water efficiency achievements and seeks to highlight the multiple social, environmental and economic benefits of water efficiency.

The CAFRE project has been implemented through the day-to-day management of existing resources, the investigation and implementation of alternative technologies and strategies to achieve more efficient utilisation of water across CAFRE’s three campus sites and also by farmers and growers. Technologies investigated and implemented include water meters, rainwater harvesting, electronic moisture sensors for irrigation control and the latest water-saving irrigation sprinklers and drip lines.

Benefits include reduced water use, reduced fertiliser use, wastage and run-off, reduced costs and improved crop quality/livestock performance. Learning and experience from the project is disseminated through workshops for students and through conferences, awareness events and bulletins for those working in the farming and horticulture industries. Achieving savings by more efficient use of resources helps deliver environmentally sustainable farming systems.

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Karen Burrows of The Environment Agency presents the ‘Exemplar Water Efficiency Projecfor N Ireland’ award to Cathal Ellis and Martin Wooster, CAFRE, at an awards ceremony in Woking, Surrey.

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