Using Azure and Windows 11, IRZ consulting company helps farmers save water and power

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Water is one of the most precious resources on Earth. And as someone whose family has been farming for generations, Fred Ziari has made it his life’s work to help growers be more efficient with this vital element for their crops, as well as the energy it takes to distribute it. Ziari is the CEO of IRZ Engineering & Consulting, which provides services to agriculture communities around the world. The company is based in eastern Oregon, which he says is 95% efficient in its water use, vs. about 40% globally. Water management is directly tied to crop productivity. IRZ offers water management services for large scale farms (100 acres or more), using water sensors and Microsoft Azure cloud services. This Internet of Things (IoT) solution links the internet connected sensors to the cloud. Azure SQL Server manages the incoming data and then IRZ uses custom apps to deliver that information to farmers, leading to decisions that help them save them 15-20% in water and power usage annually, which translates to millions of dollars. Windows 11 PCs and Microsoft 365 are must-haves for IRZ to smoothly conduct its daily business. By reducing both water and energy in irrigated farming, IRZ customers conserve over 10 billion gallons of water every year.

Born in Northern Iran on a farm along the Caspian Sea, Ziari says generations of his family grew about 30 different types of crops, so agriculture has always been a big part of his life. “Growing up in a family farm, I always believed that the technology of agriculture was more important to me and more interesting than the farming itself,” Ziari says. “I felt that by using water more efficiently, you can increase productivity by many, many fold.” Fifty years ago, he came to the U.S. when he was 18. He went to Texas A&M University for his undergrad and graduate studies before joining the faculty at Washington State University as a researcher in water management, specializing in irrigated agriculture. [caption id=attachment_177180" align="aligncenter" width="1024]https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2022/05/IRZ-Fred-Ziari-1024x555.jpg Fred Ziari of IRZ[/caption] Irrigation and rainfall are the two sources most farms use to water their crops. Irrigated agriculture has become more important since it’s not so dependent on the environment and changing climate conditions to assure production and yield. But that means farmers need to use water more efficiently. “If you put too much water to the crop, you are drowning it because the roots need oxygen. If you put too much water, you're suffocating them,” Ziari says. “If you can put just the right amount of water, your productivity increases substantially.” [caption id=attachment_177181" align="alignleft" width="592]https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2022/05/WP_20180522_010-scaled-e1652211641797.jpg Soil moisture sensor installed in a field[/caption] “Water management is important for a couple of reasons,” he says. “It allows growers to better manage costs associated with irrigating their crops and fields. Secondly, it's important for the environment to use water wisely. It's good for the environment, it's good for the planet.” In the past, IRZ hosted its own website and infrastructure, which was very expensive and difficult to implement. With Azure, they have all those things available to them without having to manage it themselves. Being cloud-based helps IRZ with redundancy and geo-located backups of services – something Berk says puts a small business on the same level as big business. As a result, they’re giving farmers and growers the biggest benefit of all: time. Traditionally, a farmer would have to visit his field multiple times a week, even every day. With IRZ’s sensors in the field, farmers can have the confidence to take time off and still be able to monitor their fields in near real-time. Berk frames the company’s services to growers as a decision support system, starting with sensors in the field – moisture in the soil or applied irrigation – that transmit that data via satellite or by cell modems. From there, IRZ imports that data into its system where it's stored in Azure SQL databases, and then a number of processes run within a web application. And then it's available to IRZ customers in near real-time in the form of reports on either a tablet, smartphone, a PC or a web browser. During the summer growing season, fields can get dry – sometimes all at the same time. But farmers can't add irrigation to the entire field at the same time due to the nature of the way the irrigation machines work. They have to plan ahead.You have all these tools and software enterprises use without the overhead...It levels the playing field for a small business.Typically, Berk says, that grower will make irrigation decisions as much as seven days ahead. And in order to make those types of decisions, they need data. Berk counts Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 as key elements in IRZ’s business. He also appreciates the improvements he sees in the user interface for Windows 11 – a more attractive design that’s easier on the eyes. “They allow us to do a lot of things, particularly in this post pandemic world, working from home and collaborating remotely with colleagues who are apart,” he says. “You have all these tools and software enterprises use without the overhead of running an on-premises Exchange Server or a SharePoint Server. You have all of that stuff licensed to you and ready to go. It's really a no brainer for small businesses, in my view. It levels the playing field for a small business.” Lead photo: Soil moisture sensor (white object, closest to camera) is in the foreground and the telemetry unit is behind it, installed in a potato field near La Grande, Oregon.

 

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