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| '''Irrigation informatics''' is a newly emerging academic field that is a cross-disciplinary science using [[informatics]] to study the [[information]] flows and data management related to irrigation. The field is one of many new informatics sub-specialities that uses the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems to advance a biophysical science or engineering field.
| | #REDIRECT [[Hydroinformatics]] |
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| ==Background==
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| Agricultural productivity increases are eagerly sought by governments and industry, spurred by the realisation that world food production must double in the 21st century to feed growing populations<ref name="madramootoo1">[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ird.555/pdf], Madramootoo, C.A. and Fyles, H. 2010. Irrigation in the context of today's global food crisis, Irrig. and Drain. 59: 40–52</ref> and that as irrigation makes up 36% of global food production<ref name="fao2">[http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0262e/x0262e01.htm], Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Water and food security, retrieved Sept. 2010</ref>, but that new land for irrigation growth is very limited<ref name="meyer1">[http://www.irrigationfutures.org.au/news.asp?catID=10&ID=291], Irrigation Futures CRC media release "Improving irrigated agriculture - how far can we go?", retrieved Sept. 2010</ref>, irrigation efficiency must increase. Since irrigation science is a mature and stable field, irrigation researchers are looking to cross-disciplinary science to bring about production gains and informatics is one such science along with others such as social science. Much of the driver for work in the area of irrigation informatics is the perceived success of other informatics fields such as [[health informatics]].
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| ==Current research==
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| Irrigation informatics is very much a part of the wider research into irrigation wherever information technology or data systems are used, however the term ''informatics'' is not always used to describe research involving computer systems and data management so that ''information science'' or ''information technology'' may alternatively be used. This leads to a great number of irrigation informatics articles not using the term ''irrigation informatics''. There are currently no formal publications (journals) that focus on ''irrigation informatics'' with the publication most likely to present articles on the topic being [http://www.elsevier.com/locate/compag/ Computers and electronics in Agriculture] or one of the many irrigation science journals such as [http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=0342-7188 Irrigation Science].
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| ==Current implementations==
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| Meteorological informatics, as with all informatics, are increasingly being used to handle the growing volumes of data that are available from sensors, remote sensing and scientific models. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has recently implemented an XML data format, known as the Water Data Transfer Format (WDTF) and standard to be used by Australian government agencies and meteorological data suppliers when delivering data to the Bureau. This format includes specifications for evapotranspiration and other weather parameters that are useful for irrigation and may be used through implementations of irrigation informatics.
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| ==Notes==
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| This article heavily reuses content from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation_informatics the Wikipedia article].
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| == References ==
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| <references/>
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| [[Category:Informatics]]
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