The People's Republic of China is the world's most populous nation. With approximately 1.35 billion residents, in combination with limited precipitation and water resources, it is understandable why the Chinese government recommends drip irrigation.

A centuries-old and widely-accepted practice, drip irrigation makes use of drip watering to restrict the large amount of water wasted in traditional irrigation. While drip irrigation can provide vast water savings of nearly 70 percent and eliminate overspray and runoff, it also benefits landscape and agricultural farmers by reducing maintenance and increasing accuracy.

One Agricultural Academy, a research institution in China, is a proponent of drip irrigation and until recently, its team of farmers and landscape professionals performed the watering system's often-laborious process multiple times per day. In one facet of the process, a set of containers is buried in the soil to collect water runoff, which is then individually weighed in a set number of increments ranging from 5-60 minutes. While this inconvenient, if not archaic, process to collect the water is highly inefficient, the customer also has to stop the drip irrigation system while processing the weighing results. Additionally, the inspection needs a two-person team to work together until the tests are finished.

Today, however, One Agricultural Academy has devised a novel method to further optimize the company's water usage, while still growing healthy, thriving vegetation. The addition of 25 OHAUS Navigators, each outfitted with an Ethernet interface and integrated cable accessory, has introduced a new level of precision to its irrigation. All 25 scales, making use of their Ethernet interface, are set up in a LAN and connected to a single computer. Now, the customer can simply operate the computer's software to automatically calculate real-time weight data. The data is then saved, allowing agriculture personnel to quickly refine the process, and move on to other responsibilities, instead of performing the weighing, manually entering the results and reinstalling the containers back under the irrigation pipes.

Thanks to the precision of the OHAUS Navigator, in combination with its Ethernet connection, the One Agricultural Academy team not only has access to real-time data at all times, but it can easily and simply assess system performance by distinguishing which irrigation pipe holes have proper drip speed. Therefore, as they continue optimizing their irrigation practices for their business, they do so in manner that supports their country's directive as well.

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