ENVE335 Irrigation and Precision Agriculture

Updated: 06 April 2010

Unit Information
Additional Information

Credit Points

Offering

Responsible Campus	Teaching Period	Mode of Study	Online Level
Armidale	Semester 1	Off Campus	B - Internet access required
Armidale	Semester 1	On Campus	B - Internet access required

Intensive School(s)

None

Supervised Exam

There is a UNE Supervised Examination held at the end of the teaching period in which you are enrolled.

Pre-requisites

72cp or candidature in a postgraduate award

Co-requisites

None

Restrictions

None

Notes

None

Combined Units

None

Coordinator(s)

Michael Evans (mevans2@une.edu.au)

Unit Description

The unit provides and introduction to irrigation and Precision Agriculture and its application to agricultural practices. Topics covered are: basic hydraulics of flow in pipes and flow in channels; Manning's equation and Darcy equation for flow rate; types of pumps, pump performance and selection; principles of irrigation, surface, sprinkler and drip methods; design of irrigation systems, irrigation scheduling; soil conservation works; hydrology and small dam design; principles of Precision Agriculture; the role of GIS in Precision Agriculture; data sources, remotely sensed data; variable rate technology and application of Precision Agriculture at the farm level.

Prescribed Material
Mandatory

Text(s):

Note: Students are expected to purchase prescribed material

Precision Viticulture: A New Era in Vineyard Management and Wine Production: ISBN: 9780975685044

Proffit, T., Bramley, R., Lamb, D. and Winter, E., Winetitles Pty Ltd. 2006

Text refers to: Semester 1 , On and Off Campus
PA in Practice: Graingrowers Experience of using Variable Rate and Other PA Technologies: ISBN: 9781875477548

Southern Precision Agriculture Association 2008

Text refers to: Semester 1 , On and Off Campus

Disclaimer

Unit information may be subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.

Assessment

Title	Exam Length	Weight	No. Words
Assignment 1		20%	1500
Relates to Learning Outcomes (LO) and Graduate Attributes (GA)
LO: 1-3 GA: 1-4, 6
Assignment 2		30%	2500
Relates to Learning Outcomes (LO) and Graduate Attributes (GA)
LO: 4-5 GA: 1-4

Final Examination	2 hrs	50%
Relates to Learning Outcomes (LO) and Graduate Attributes (GA)
LO: 1-5 GA: 1-4, 6

Learning Outcomes (LO)

Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:

understand the various methods of irrigation;
carry out basic irrigation scheduling;
understand the environmental hazards of irrigation and how to alleviate them;
demonstrate a knowledge of, and the ability to explain, the objectives and specific applications of precision agriculture; and
assess suitable sources of data for precision agriculture and provide an evaluation of a given system of precision agriculture in the form of a scientific report.

Graduate Attributes (GA)

	Attribute	Taught	Assessed	Practised
1	Knowledge of a Discipline The unit covers the principles and techniques of irrigation and precision agriculture. Students are asked to write a report on the impact of climate change on the availability of water for irrigation in different regions of Australia.
2	Communication Skills Students are given tasks that they must report back on in a clear, concise and lucid manner.
3	Global Perspectives Students learn about the global irrigation practices and variations in techniques between continents.
4	Information Literacy Students are given topics that they must extensively research and produce a written report.
5	Life-Long Learning Students learn that we are constantly researching and increasing our knowledge and that keeping up to date requires vigilance and effort.
6	Problem Solving Students learn the techniques of numerical analysis, and how to break down a problem into component parts and hence arrive at systematic and logical solution.

Global UNE Links:

Course and Unit Catalogue 2010

Sub sections:

Quick Search

Quick Links

ENVE335 Irrigation and Precision Agriculture

Email to a friend