Preventing underwatering in pistachios

The problem

When owner Ray Yeung reviewed imagery of his pistachio orchard in the first half of the season, he noticed a consistent pattern of water stress: half of the trees were getting ample water, while the other half wasn’t.

Pistachios need exactly the right amount of water for the kernel to develop properly and the shell to split. Because Ray’s buyers pay only for pistachios with split shells, managing water correctly is critical to his bottom line. If the lack of uniformity that Ray observed in his imagery was caused by a problem with his irrigation system, he could protect his profits by finding and correcting the issue.

The solution

Ray sent his irrigators and PCAs to investigate the water stress he saw in his aerial data. Because Ceres Imaging revealed exactly which areas of the orchard were affected, his team was able to narrow down the potential causes of the issue until they found the culprit.

It turned out that calcification had clogged portions of the orchard’s drip hose, causing some trees to receive inadequate water. To correct the problem and prevent future clogs, Ray added a sulfuric acid system to flush the lines. He monitored the subsequent improvements in orchard health in his imagery to verify that the problem had been solved.

“What I like about [Ceres Imaging] is that it’s completely objective,” Ray says. “Either the field has enough moisture, or it doesn’t. Being able to pinpoint the areas that need more water has improved uniformity in yield and quality.”

The outcome

Ceres Imaging helped Yeung Farms detect and correct an irrigation issue affecting 20 acres, preventing an estimated $12,600 in lost yield.