C M Y K Composite B6 | Friday, July 17, 2015 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. BUSINESS NEWS thing from soil temperature to air pressure to help better un- derstand how much water their crops need. In late 2013, Terlato Wine Group, a large producer of Cali- fornia wines, began testing one new system from Tule Technol- ogies Inc. on 130 of its 600 wine-grape acres, said Vice Chairman John Terlato. Through its wire sensors, Tule quantifies how much water the plants actu- ally use day to day by measuring the water they release as vapor. It has allowed Terlato to irrigate its vines with the amount they need when they need it, yielding higher-quality grapes and reduc- ing water usage by 20% on those acres, he said. This year, Terlato is nearly tripling its acreage us- ing Tule’s system. Mr. Terlato’s company has equipment. Their emergence underscores the resilience of a U.S. agricul- tural sector long accustomed to the vagaries of weather but un- der increasing pressure in recent years from foreign growers that sell to American supermarkets as well as rising costs and regu- latory mandates. Along with leaving fields unplanted and di- verting water to higher-value crops like berries or nuts, farm- ers in California—the nation’s biggest agricultural producer and exporter—are implementing robotics and other techniques for boosting productivity. It isn’t clear whether the na- scent water technologies can significantly dent water use and soothe concerns about availabil- ity in the near term. But some farmers and water-efficiency ad- vocates say adopting new pro- cesses and technologies could cut agricultural water use by 10% to 25%. A preliminary study in June by the Center for Watershed Sci- ences at the University of Cali- fornia, Davis, estimated the drought would cause $2.7 billion in statewide economic losses this year from farmers fallowing more than a half-million acres of land and 18,600 agriculture-re- lated job losses. California re- cently ordered holders of some of the oldest and most signifi- cant water-rights claims in the state, many of whom are farm- ers, to stop drawing water. Daniel Sumner, an agricul- tural economist at UC Davis, said that people focused simply on cutting absolute water use are looking at it the wrong way. Growers who find new ways to produce more food per unit of water may generate bigger gains in water efficiency, he said. “If we can grow more food with our water, that’s presumably what we would like to do,” he said. One of the biggest ways that is happening is through the reams of agricultural data seep- ing into water technology. Growers say they are regu- larly receiving sales pitches for new tools that measure every- scrutinized its water use for years. Yet Mr. Terlato, like many growers, is irked by a general- ized perception in California that farmers are taking more than their share of water. The “big, wide brush that ev- erybody is using too much water is a generalization, and I know there are a lot of people working hard out there to be thoughtful about this,” he said. San Francisco-based Tule, founded in December 2013, has sold more than 320 systems so far, many to wine vineyards. Its sensors, which each cover about 10 acres of land, cost $1,500 apiece. For some growers, water-con- servation investments also are a strategic calculation. Publicly traded Limoneira Co., with about 7,300 acres of citrus and avocados, is preparing now for long-term water limits it expects will eventually be based on his- torical usage rates. For about seven years, it has carpeted its groves with mulch made from yard waste and con- struction debris to stem soil- moisture evaporation, cutting water use by between 15% and 25%, said Chief Operating Officer Alex Teague. But last year, the Santa Paula, Calif., company in- stalled plastic tubes that collect water samples as far as two feet below the ground on 400 of its acres in a pilot project to better monitor nutrient and moisture levels. Limoneira also this spring began testing a new irrigation system by Netafim Irrigation Inc. Instead of the fan jets Limo- neira currently uses, which sit 12 to 24 inches from the ground and lose about 15% of their wa- ter to evaporation, it is a system of tubes, dotted with holes, that lies on the ground. It can pump a higher volume of water during the hottest parts of the day di- rectly to trees and lose less wa- ter to evaporation because it is closer to the ground. Mr. Teague estimates the combination of better monitor- ing and new irrigation tech- niques could save an additional 25% of water use when deployed throughout the company, and come in handy soon. By lowering water needs now, “you’re giving yourself a cushion” for future dry spells, he said. SCATTERED RAIN INTO NEXT WEEK SCATTERED RAIN INTO NEXT WEEK DRY DRY MOIST MOIST AIR AIR SCATTERED RAIN INTO NEXT WEEK DRY MOIST AIR ICE US Cotton Weather to Buy or Sell Reproductive cotton across the North China Plain will receive a beneficial moisture boost from scattered showers and thunderstorms over the next 7-10 days. Scattered thunderstorms across the NCP through next week. China Source: Thomson Datastream 90s 80s 80s 70s 70s 60s 60s 50s 50s 100s San Antonio Ft. Worth El Paso Albuquerque Houston Cabo San Lucas Monterrey Mexico City Topeka Omaha Sioux Falls Wichita Seattle Eugene Portland Boise Reno Sacramento Phoenix Los Angeles Las Vegas San Diego Salt Lake City Cheyenne Colorado Springs Denver Santa Fe Helena Bismarck Pierre Austin Tucson San Francisco Billings Memphis Buffalo Toronto Ottawa New York Boston Cleveland Albany Hartford Augusta Detroit Chicago Charlotte Atlanta Nashville Louisville Charleston Columbia Anchorage Honolulu Birmingham Jacksonville Orlando Miami New Orleans St. Louis Kansas City Springfield Des Moines Richmond Washington D.C. Oklahoma City Indianapolis Jackson Raleigh Mpls./St. Paul Mobile Philadelphia Pittsburgh Vancouver Calgary Edmonton Winnipeg Montreal Milwaukee Tampa Little Rock Dallas 60s 70s 80s 90s 100+ 10s 0s <0 20s 30s 40s 50s Snow Flurries T-storms Showers Ice Rain Warm Cold Stationary U.S. Forecasts High-low forecasts and general weather conditions. s...sunny;pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...show- ers; t...thunderstorms; r...rain; sf... snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice U.S. Weather Delay International Weather Delay Weather Delays Weather and forecast weather-related delays at major airline hubs. Check most updated schedule with airlines. Legend: All- day delays possible (AD); Morning delays (AM); Evening delays (PM) City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W Latin America Africa/Middle East Caribbean City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W International Forecasts WEATHER WATCH Canada Asia/Pacific Europe Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Buffalo 77 70 t 82 71 c Burlington 82 65 pc 82 67 r Charlotte 93 72 pc 95 71 t Chicago 88 73 t 91 73 s Cincinnati 90 73 c 90 74 pc Cleveland 83 72 t 87 73 pc Dallas 97 79 s 98 81 s Denver 92 57 pc 86 59 pc Detroit 86 71 t 90 74 pc Honolulu 90 77 c 89 75 pc Houston 94 78 s 97 78 s Indianapolis 88 73 c 91 75 s Kansas City 92 76 pc 91 74 pc Las Vegas 104 81 s 94 75 t Little Rock 96 77 s 97 78 s Los Angeles 82 63 pc 81 70 t Memphis 96 79 s 96 81 s Miami 90 77 t 89 78 pc Milwaukee 85 71 t 89 71 pc Mpls./St. Paul 88 71 s 88 62 t Nashville 96 76 s 96 77 s New Orleans 92 78 t 94 79 s New York 82 70 s 86 74 t Oklahoma City 95 75 s 96 77 pc Omaha 95 75 s 93 69 pc Orlando 88 74 t 89 73 t Philadelphia 84 70 pc 92 74 t Phoenix 102 85 pc 93 81 t Pittsburgh 84 73 pc 88 72 pc Portland, ME 75 61 s 74 64 r Portland, OR 85 61 pc 97 66 s Sacramento 98 63 s 92 62 s St. Louis 94 78 pc 96 78 s Salt Lake City 87 65 s 80 63 c San Diego 77 69 pc 83 74 t San Francisco 76 61 pc 77 60 pc San Jose 84 61 pc 82 60 pc Santa Fe 85 58 pc 84 57 pc Seattle 82 61 s 91 62 s Sioux Falls 91 68 t 86 61 t Tucson 94 75 t 90 73 t Wash., DC 87 76 pc 94 77 t Atlanta t PM Chicago t AD Dallas/Ft. Worth s none Denver pc none Mpls./St. Paul s none New York s none San Francisco pc AM Hong Kong t AD London pc none Paris s none Singapore t PM Sydney r AD Tokyo r AD Vancouver s none Calgary 60 50 r 75 56 c Edmonton 66 47 r 76 55 pc Montreal 79 64 pc 81 66 r Toronto 73 66 t 86 68 c Vancouver 74 58 s 80 61 s Winnipeg 77 57 t 71 56 t Amsterdam 75 58 s 69 56 pc Athens 90 74 s 90 73 s Berlin 89 65 t 81 60 pc Brussels 79 56 s 70 52 s Budapest 90 66 s 95 69 pc Copenhagen 72 58 t 71 55 pc Dublin 63 49 sh 63 50 sh Edinburgh 64 50 sh 61 48 sh Frankfurt 97 68 pc 83 61 t Geneva 96 68 pc 91 65 t Istanbul 85 71 s 84 71 s Lisbon 79 63 pc 84 64 pc London 74 55 pc 72 54 pc Madrid 99 67 pc 95 70 pc Milan 96 73 t 97 72 pc Moscow 69 52 pc 70 50 r Nice 85 74 s 86 75 s Paris 86 62 s 79 59 s Prague 91 66 pc 92 63 t Rome 92 73 s 93 72 s St. Petersburg 70 53 r 70 57 pc Stockholm 68 55 pc 69 54 pc Vienna 92 68 pc 98 74 pc Warsaw 81 59 pc 89 61 t Zurich 94 65 t 89 63 t Bangkok 92 80 t 92 81 t Beijing 86 70 t 88 70 c Hanoi 90 80 t 89 79 t Hong Kong 92 81 t 91 82 t Jakarta 90 74 c 90 74 s Karachi 92 85 pc 92 84 c Manila 87 78 t 88 78 c Melbourne 50 41 sh 52 37 pc Mumbai 91 82 t 89 81 t New Delhi 92 79 t 89 78 t Seoul 85 68 pc 86 69 pc Shanghai 82 73 c 82 73 pc Singapore 88 79 t 89 79 t Sydney 58 46 r 59 46 sh Taipei 90 79 t 91 79 t Tokyo 84 77 r 85 77 r Bogota 66 46 t 66 47 t Buenos Aires 61 52 s 65 48 s Caracas 72 66 t 71 65 pc Lima 72 64 c 72 63 c Mexico City 73 56 t 74 56 t Rio de Janeiro 81 68 pc 80 67 pc Santiago 61 41 s 59 39 s Sao Paulo 77 60 pc 74 59 pc Baghdad 119 90 s 115 88 s Cairo 97 75 s 99 75 s Jerusalem 88 68 s 89 68 s Johannesburg 55 32 pc 63 31 s Riyadh 113 89 s 112 87 s Tehran 100 79 s 97 77 s Barbados 86 78 s 86 78 s Havana 91 73 pc 90 72 t Kingston 90 79 pc 90 77 pc Port-au-Prince 95 72 pc 97 68 s San Juan 90 78 pc 89 77 s Albany 82 67 pc 84 68 t Albuquerque 88 65 pc 87 67 pc Anchorage 65 55 sh 68 54 sh Atlanta 92 75 t 94 76 t Austin 95 75 s 96 74 s Baltimore 84 70 pc 92 73 t Boise 83 56 s 85 59 s Boston 78 65 s 79 70 sh Today Tomorrow City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W Today Tomorrow City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W Today Tomorrow City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow It has been two decades since Willie Hartman started making farm equipment that helps grow- ers conserve water, but sales didn’t take off until the past four years. Credit goes, in part, to California’s worst drought in at least half a century. Farmers in the Golden State’s $45 billion agricultural economy are increasingly thirsty for ways to save water, prompting a burst in demand for tools and pro- cesses like Mr. Hartman’s On Target Sprayer. At a cost of $20,000 to $50,000 each, Mr. Hartman’s ma- chines electrically charge mists of pesticides and plant nutrients in a way that causes them to stick to leaves more evenly, us- ing about 80% less water than conventional chemical-spray rigs. Sales at his Progressive Grower Technologies Inc. are rising 30% a year, more than tri- ple the rate four years ago, he said. “Everybody’s aware of water now,” Mr. Hartman said. “Every- body’s watching it.” Farmers in the arid West long have sought to lower their costs, including for water. But it often has taken a back seat to pressing concerns about labor, energy and other expenses. Now a drought that has stretched for four years is heightening attention to water efficiency by California growers of crops, whether almonds, ol- ives or peaches—and opening a new market opportunity for those peddling novel solutions and others whose products re- ceived little notice until now. New technologies range from a nontoxic gel made by Moasis Inc. that, mixed into soil, stores and slowly releases water near roots, to companies using satel- lite and aerial imagery to help farmers better plan how to irri- gate crops based on how sec- tions of their fields are faring. A water-pump monitor made by PowWow Energy Inc. alerts farmers to leaks in irrigation BY ILAN BRAT California Drought Plants Seeds for Tech Farmers more willing to invest in new processes and monitors that promise to save water Dan Galbraith shows the top of a water sensor in a lemon grove near Terra Bella, Calif. Limoneira is also testing a new irrigation system. DAVID MCNEW FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2) Thistles grow in an abandoned vineyard near Terra Bella, Calif. ©2015 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. 6DJ1696 Get push notifications sent to you as news breaks so you’ll never be the last to know. Experience WSJ content in an engaging new way with the WSJ app for Apple Watch, exclusively for subscribers. AppStore.com/WSJ #MakeTime ACTIONABLE INFORMATION WHEN YOU NEED IT. DOWNLOAD THE WSJ APP FOR APPLE WATCH Composite YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN BLACK P2JW198000-2-B00600-1--------XA CL,CN,CX,DL,DM,DX,EE,EU,FL,HO,KC,MW,NC,NE,NY,PH,PN,RM,SA,SC,SL,SW,TU,WB,WE BG,BM,BP,CC,CH,CK,CP,CT,DN,DR,FW,HL,HW,KS,LA,LG,LK,MI,ML,NM,PA,PI,PV,TD,TS,UT,WO P2JW198000-2-B00600-1--------XA
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CM Y K Composite
B6 | Friday, July 17, 2015 * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.
BUSINESS NEWS
thing from soil temperature toair pressure to help better un-derstand how much water theircrops need.
In late 2013, Terlato WineGroup, a large producer of Cali-fornia wines, began testing onenew system from Tule Technol-ogies Inc. on 130 of its 600wine-grape acres, said ViceChairman John Terlato. Throughits wire sensors, Tule quantifies
how much water the plants actu-ally use day to day by measuringthe water they release as vapor.It has allowed Terlato to irrigateits vines with the amount theyneed when they need it, yieldinghigher-quality grapes and reduc-ing water usage by 20% on thoseacres, he said. This year, Terlatois nearly tripling its acreage us-ing Tule’s system.
Mr. Terlato’s company has
equipment.Their emergence underscores
the resilience of a U.S. agricul-tural sector long accustomed tothe vagaries of weather but un-der increasing pressure in recentyears from foreign growers thatsell to American supermarketsas well as rising costs and regu-latory mandates. Along withleaving fields unplanted and di-verting water to higher-valuecrops like berries or nuts, farm-ers in California—the nation’sbiggest agricultural producerand exporter—are implementingrobotics and other techniquesfor boosting productivity.
It isn’t clear whether the na-scent water technologies cansignificantly dent water use andsoothe concerns about availabil-ity in the near term. But somefarmers and water-efficiency ad-vocates say adopting new pro-cesses and technologies couldcut agricultural water use by10% to 25%.
A preliminary study in Juneby the Center for Watershed Sci-ences at the University of Cali-
fornia, Davis, estimated thedrought would cause $2.7 billionin statewide economic lossesthis year from farmers fallowingmore than a half-million acres ofland and 18,600 agriculture-re-lated job losses. California re-cently ordered holders of someof the oldest and most signifi-cant water-rights claims in thestate, many of whom are farm-ers, to stop drawing water.
Daniel Sumner, an agricul-tural economist at UC Davis, saidthat people focused simply oncutting absolute water use arelooking at it the wrong way.Growers who find new ways toproduce more food per unit ofwater may generate bigger gainsin water efficiency, he said. “Ifwe can grow more food with ourwater, that’s presumably whatwe would like to do,” he said.
One of the biggest ways thatis happening is through thereams of agricultural data seep-ing into water technology.
Growers say they are regu-larly receiving sales pitches fornew tools that measure every-
scrutinized its water use foryears. Yet Mr. Terlato, like manygrowers, is irked by a general-ized perception in California thatfarmers are taking more thantheir share of water.
The “big, wide brush that ev-erybody is using too much wateris a generalization, and I knowthere are a lot of people workinghard out there to be thoughtfulabout this,” he said.
San Francisco-based Tule,founded in December 2013, hassold more than 320 systems sofar, many to wine vineyards. Itssensors, which each cover about10 acres of land, cost $1,500apiece.
For some growers, water-con-servation investments also are astrategic calculation. Publiclytraded Limoneira Co., withabout 7,300 acres of citrus andavocados, is preparing now forlong-term water limits it expectswill eventually be based on his-torical usage rates.
For about seven years, it hascarpeted its groves with mulchmade from yard waste and con-struction debris to stem soil-moisture evaporation, cuttingwater use by between 15% and25%, said Chief Operating OfficerAlex Teague. But last year, theSanta Paula, Calif., company in-stalled plastic tubes that collectwater samples as far as two feetbelow the ground on 400 of itsacres in a pilot project to bettermonitor nutrient and moisturelevels. Limoneira also this springbegan testing a new irrigationsystem by Netafim IrrigationInc. Instead of the fan jets Limo-neira currently uses, which sit 12to 24 inches from the groundand lose about 15% of their wa-ter to evaporation, it is a systemof tubes, dotted with holes, thatlies on the ground. It can pumpa higher volume of water duringthe hottest parts of the day di-rectly to trees and lose less wa-ter to evaporation because it iscloser to the ground.
Mr. Teague estimates thecombination of better monitor-ing and new irrigation tech-niques could save an additional25% of water use when deployedthroughout the company, andcome in handy soon. By loweringwater needs now, “you’re givingyourself a cushion” for futuredry spells, he said.
SCATTERED RAIN INTO NEXT WEEKSCATTERED RAIN INTO NEXT WEEK
DRYDRY
MOISTMOISTAIRAIR
SCATTERED RAIN INTO NEXT WEEK
DRY
MOISTAIR
ICE US CottonWeatherto Buy or Sell
Reproductive cottonacross the North ChinaPlain will receive abeneficial moisture boostfrom scattered showersand thunderstorms overthe next 7-10 days.
Scattered thunderstorms across theNCP through next week.
China
Source: Thomson Datastream
90s80s
80s
70s
70s
60s
60s
50s
50s
100s
SanAntonio
Ft. WorthEl Paso
Albuquerque
Houston
Cabo San Lucas
Monterrey
Mexico City
Topeka
Omaha
Sioux Falls
Wichita
Seattle
Eugene
Portland
Boise
RenoSacramento
Phoenix
Los Angeles
LasVegas
San Diego
Salt Lake City Cheyenne
ColoradoSprings
Denver
Santa Fe
Helena
Bismarck
Pierre
Austin
Tucson
San Francisco
Billings
Memphis
Buffalo
TorontoOttawa
New York
Boston
Cleveland
AlbanyHartford
Augusta
DetroitChicago
Charlotte
Atlanta
Nashville
LouisvilleCharleston
Columbia
Anchorage
Honolulu
Birmingham
JacksonvilleOrlando
Miami
New Orleans
St. LouisKansasCity
Springfield
Des Moines
Richmond
Washington D.C.
Oklahoma City
Indianapolis
Jackson
Raleigh
Mpls./St. Paul
Mobile
PhiladelphiaPittsburgh
VancouverCalgary
Edmonton
Winnipeg
Montreal
Milwaukee
Tampa
Little Rock
Dallas
60s
70s
80s
90s
100+
10s
0s
<0
20s
30s
40s
50s
Snow
Flurries
T-storms
Showers
Ice
Rain
Warm
Cold
Stationary
U.S. ForecastsHigh-low forecasts and generalweather conditions. s...sunny;pc...partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...show-ers; t...thunderstorms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice
U.S. Weather Delay International Weather DelayWeather DelaysWeather and forecastweather-related delays atmajor airline hubs. Checkmost updated schedulewith airlines. Legend: All-day delays possible (AD);Morning delays (AM);Evening delays (PM)
City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W City Hi Lo W Hi Lo WCity Hi Lo W Hi Lo W
Latin America
Africa/Middle EastCaribbean
City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W
International Forecasts
WEATHER WATCH
Canada Asia/Pacific Europe
Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
Buffalo 77 70 t 82 71 cBurlington 82 65 pc 82 67 rCharlotte 93 72 pc 95 71 tChicago 88 73 t 91 73 sCincinnati 90 73 c 90 74 pcCleveland 83 72 t 87 73 pcDallas 97 79 s 98 81 sDenver 92 57 pc 86 59 pcDetroit 86 71 t 90 74 pcHonolulu 90 77 c 89 75 pcHouston 94 78 s 97 78 sIndianapolis 88 73 c 91 75 sKansas City 92 76 pc 91 74 pcLas Vegas 104 81 s 94 75 t
Little Rock 96 77 s 97 78 sLos Angeles 82 63 pc 81 70 tMemphis 96 79 s 96 81 sMiami 90 77 t 89 78 pcMilwaukee 85 71 t 89 71 pcMpls./St. Paul 88 71 s 88 62 tNashville 96 76 s 96 77 sNew Orleans 92 78 t 94 79 sNew York 82 70 s 86 74 tOklahoma City 95 75 s 96 77 pcOmaha 95 75 s 93 69 pcOrlando 88 74 t 89 73 tPhiladelphia 84 70 pc 92 74 tPhoenix 102 85 pc 93 81 t
Pittsburgh 84 73 pc 88 72 pcPortland, ME 75 61 s 74 64 rPortland, OR 85 61 pc 97 66 sSacramento 98 63 s 92 62 sSt. Louis 94 78 pc 96 78 sSalt Lake City 87 65 s 80 63 cSan Diego 77 69 pc 83 74 tSan Francisco 76 61 pc 77 60 pcSan Jose 84 61 pc 82 60 pcSanta Fe 85 58 pc 84 57 pcSeattle 82 61 s 91 62 sSioux Falls 91 68 t 86 61 tTucson 94 75 t 90 73 tWash., DC 87 76 pc 94 77 t
Atlanta t PMChicago t ADDallas/Ft. Worth s noneDenver pc noneMpls./St. Paul s noneNew York s noneSan Francisco pc AM
Hong Kong t ADLondon pc noneParis s noneSingapore t PMSydney r ADTokyo r ADVancouver s none
Calgary 60 50 r 75 56 cEdmonton 66 47 r 76 55 pcMontreal 79 64 pc 81 66 rToronto 73 66 t 86 68 cVancouver 74 58 s 80 61 sWinnipeg 77 57 t 71 56 t
Amsterdam 75 58 s 69 56 pcAthens 90 74 s 90 73 sBerlin 89 65 t 81 60 pcBrussels 79 56 s 70 52 sBudapest 90 66 s 95 69 pcCopenhagen 72 58 t 71 55 pcDublin 63 49 sh 63 50 shEdinburgh 64 50 sh 61 48 shFrankfurt 97 68 pc 83 61 tGeneva 96 68 pc 91 65 tIstanbul 85 71 s 84 71 sLisbon 79 63 pc 84 64 pcLondon 74 55 pc 72 54 pcMadrid 99 67 pc 95 70 pcMilan 96 73 t 97 72 pcMoscow 69 52 pc 70 50 rNice 85 74 s 86 75 sParis 86 62 s 79 59 sPrague 91 66 pc 92 63 tRome 92 73 s 93 72 sSt. Petersburg 70 53 r 70 57 pcStockholm 68 55 pc 69 54 pcVienna 92 68 pc 98 74 pcWarsaw 81 59 pc 89 61 tZurich 94 65 t 89 63 t
Bangkok 92 80 t 92 81 tBeijing 86 70 t 88 70 cHanoi 90 80 t 89 79 tHong Kong 92 81 t 91 82 tJakarta 90 74 c 90 74 sKarachi 92 85 pc 92 84 cManila 87 78 t 88 78 cMelbourne 50 41 sh 52 37 pcMumbai 91 82 t 89 81 tNew Delhi 92 79 t 89 78 tSeoul 85 68 pc 86 69 pcShanghai 82 73 c 82 73 pcSingapore 88 79 t 89 79 tSydney 58 46 r 59 46 shTaipei 90 79 t 91 79 tTokyo 84 77 r 85 77 r
Bogota 66 46 t 66 47 tBuenos Aires 61 52 s 65 48 sCaracas 72 66 t 71 65 pcLima 72 64 c 72 63 cMexico City 73 56 t 74 56 tRio de Janeiro 81 68 pc 80 67 pcSantiago 61 41 s 59 39 sSao Paulo 77 60 pc 74 59 pc
Baghdad 119 90 s 115 88 sCairo 97 75 s 99 75 sJerusalem 88 68 s 89 68 sJohannesburg 55 32 pc 63 31 sRiyadh 113 89 s 112 87 sTehran 100 79 s 97 77 s
Barbados 86 78 s 86 78 sHavana 91 73 pc 90 72 tKingston 90 79 pc 90 77 pcPort-au-Prince 95 72 pc 97 68 sSan Juan 90 78 pc 89 77 s
Albany 82 67 pc 84 68 tAlbuquerque 88 65 pc 87 67 pcAnchorage 65 55 sh 68 54 shAtlanta 92 75 t 94 76 tAustin 95 75 s 96 74 sBaltimore 84 70 pc 92 73 tBoise 83 56 s 85 59 sBoston 78 65 s 79 70 sh
Today TomorrowCity Hi Lo W Hi Lo W
Today TomorrowCity Hi Lo W Hi Lo W
Today TomorrowCity Hi Lo W Hi Lo W
Today Tomorrow
Today Tomorrow Today TomorrowToday Tomorrow
It has been two decades sinceWillie Hartman started makingfarm equipment that helps grow-ers conserve water, but salesdidn’t take off until the past fouryears. Credit goes, in part, toCalifornia’s worst drought in atleast half a century.
Farmers in the Golden State’s$45 billion agricultural economyare increasingly thirsty for waysto save water, prompting a burstin demand for tools and pro-cesses like Mr. Hartman’s OnTarget Sprayer.
At a cost of $20,000 to$50,000 each, Mr. Hartman’s ma-chines electrically charge mistsof pesticides and plant nutrientsin a way that causes them tostick to leaves more evenly, us-ing about 80% less water thanconventional chemical-sprayrigs. Sales at his ProgressiveGrower Technologies Inc. arerising 30% a year, more than tri-ple the rate four years ago, hesaid.
“Everybody’s aware of waternow,” Mr. Hartman said. “Every-body’s watching it.”
Farmers in the arid West longhave sought to lower their costs,including for water. But it oftenhas taken a back seat to pressingconcerns about labor, energy andother expenses. Now a droughtthat has stretched for four yearsis heightening attention to waterefficiency by California growersof crops, whether almonds, ol-ives or peaches—and opening anew market opportunity forthose peddling novel solutionsand others whose products re-ceived little notice until now.
New technologies range froma nontoxic gel made by MoasisInc. that, mixed into soil, storesand slowly releases water nearroots, to companies using satel-lite and aerial imagery to helpfarmers better plan how to irri-gate crops based on how sec-tions of their fields are faring. Awater-pump monitor made byPowWow Energy Inc. alertsfarmers to leaks in irrigation
BY ILAN BRAT
California Drought Plants Seeds for TechFarmers more willing toinvest in new processesand monitors thatpromise to save water
Dan Galbraith shows the top of a water sensor in a lemon grove near Terra Bella, Calif. Limoneira is also testing a new irrigation system.
DAVID
MCN
EWFO
RTH
EWALL
STRE
ETJO
URN
AL(2)
Thistles grow in an abandoned vineyard near Terra Bella, Calif.
© 2015 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. 6DJ1696
Get push notifications sent to you as news breaks so you’llnever be the last to know. Experience WSJ content in anengaging new way with theWSJ app for Apple Watch,exclusively for subscribers.
AppStore.com/WSJ
#MakeTime
ACTIONABLE INFORMATIONWHEN YOU NEED IT.DOWNLOAD THEWSJ APP FOR APPLEWATCH
CompositeYELLOW MAGENTA CYAN BLACK
P2JW198000-2-B00600-1--------XA CL,CN,CX,DL,DM,DX,EE,EU,FL,HO,KC,MW,NC,NE,NY,PH,PN,RM,SA,SC,SL,SW,TU,WB,WEBG,BM,BP,CC,CH,CK,CP,CT,DN,DR,FW,HL,HW,KS,LA,LG,LK,MI,ML,NM,PA,PI,PV,TD,TS,UT,WO
P2JW198000-2-B00600-1--------XA
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