Siphon-less Irrigation

Many growers in the industry are looking at siphon-less alternatives to address challenges such as labour resourcing, water and energy efficiency and productivity gains.
The GVIA participated in the Siphon-less Irrigation Field Day at Deer Park Moree on Wednesday the 6th of February 2019. The field day brought together a number of growers and irrigation consultants who have firsthand experience with the various system in the industry today. 

Some growers and designers have been working with bankless channel designs for many years while others have only recently tried these systems. The field day gave everyone a chance to get together and discuss what they have learned from installing and using the different siphon-less or bankless channel designs.  
The event was an outstanding success with over 140 attendees who could discuss their needs with other growers and with designers or researchers.

The drivers for moving away from standard siphon irrigation  will vary by farm; some growers are looking for water use efficiency, others for energy savings or productivity gains, while others are looking for a way to manage the challenge of labour resourcing, removing the need for casual staff while improving the sustainability of employment for permanent staff. 
Each of the different designs have different fits which will be influenced by the soil type the slope of the fields and the amount of earth work that the grower is prepared to do.
The field day booklet is a comprehensive summary from a number of case studies on how growers have implemented the various designs, why they made the investments and what their experiences have been. The industry has been learning about these systems for a number of years, and over then next few years we will continue to learn how to adapt systems to further enhance the efficiencies of water, energy and labour.
If you would like a hard copy of the booklet please contact the GVIA.
The GVIA in partnership with CottonInfo have worked with Tom Cush from Avymore to develop a video which will give you a growers' perspective of the transition from siphons to siphon-less.