The year is 2024 – wow, I cannot believe I am writing that. Branif was founded in 1993, so considering 31 years have elapsed, what should farm managers and growers be looking out for in terms of features? In this all-important age of information, what farmers and growers select to use for total wireless irrigation automation has a wide reaching impact on their bottom-line. From the pump station to field valves, a comprehensive irrigation monitoring and control platform is one that needs to be both robust, powerful in features, and open to integration with third-party irrigation sensors and assets. So let's explore what to look out for with these 6 tips.
When investing in a wireless irrigation control and monitoring system in 2024, the automation system is just one piece of the equation. It is nearly certain you will be connecting the system to field valves, remote wells, soil moisture sensors, reservoirs, and more. Ensuring your wireless irrigation control system can work with legacy irrigation assets as well as next-generation equipment will set you up for success, ensuring your platform will be able to serve your automation system for many years to come. In this sense, proprietary is not a word you want to hear! Good news: While our platform has proprietary technology to deliver powerful and reliable automation, it is completely open to nearly any sensor, irrigation asset (like a valve, well, VFD, pump, fertigation machine, wind machine, etc. on the market today).
Fertigation is all the talk right now in ag professionals' minds, and for good reason! Since 2020, the cost of fertilizer has increased rather dramatically. Furthermore, Agronomists and CCAs are wanting more precise application of various nutrients. Today, it is crucial to look for a system that has built-in fertigation automation capabilities. Furthermore, do your homework to make sure it offers the kind of fertigation you need; there are many options and types. We have written another blog on this here.
Having a cloud-based system is a major benefit to farmers, growers, and operators. The Cloud eliminates IT limitations, security vulnerabilities, and provides a seamless experience. Your software is always up to date, automatically updated over the air. The cloud also guarantees redundancy and performance due to the system deployment optimized for irrigation control and management software.
Perhaps this one is obvious, but one common complaint we hear among our customers when replacing another automation platform with a Branif one is that communication was a weak link in their system, often citing multiple instances of communication failures, spotty connectivity, and generally just not something to be counted upon - totally unacceptable for something as crucial as irrigation and fertigation. With Branif, we exclusively use Motorola technology for our hardware and communications. This is the only system on the market that does so, giving our platform a leg up on the competition. We wrote more about that here.
Ensure you select a company for your wireless irrigation control and automation system that has been in the agricultural and farming industry for some time. We replace many systems that were acquired at steep purchase prices only to become worth their value in scrap because the company selling that platform shut down. Branif has stood behind our partners, customers, and employees for over 30 years.
Probably the best way to gauge what you are signing up for is to either talk to our customers and get their direct, honest, and unbiased feedback on their experience with their Wireless Irrigation Control and Monitoring platform. This goes if you are looking at Branif or a competitor. Take it a step further, and ask for a few names for references and reach out. Our customers are our #1 sales team.