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Water & soil5 min read
What drip irrigation actually cost us
Converting every block to drip cut our water use by about two fifths. It also cost us a season of margin, which is the part nobody puts in the brochure.
Written by Head of Agronomy
Every sustainability page will tell you that drip irrigation saves water. Very few will tell you what it takes to get there on a grove that is already in production.
You cannot do it all at once
Trenching between mature rows means disturbing root systems that took years to establish. We did it block by block over three seasons, and each converted block gave us a reduced crop the following year.
- Roughly 40% less water per tonne of fruit once established
- Fertigation through the same lines, so nutrition got more precise too
- One reduced harvest per block in the year after conversion
- Filtration and maintenance that flood irrigation never needed
Would we do it again
Yes, and sooner. The dry season is lengthening and the farms that did not convert are now making the same investment under more pressure, with less margin to absorb it.
