Smart Orchard: Field Day showcases agricultural research from three-year project

GRANDVIEW – After three years of research on the Smart Orchard project, Innov8.ag, Washington State University Extension and the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission hosted the 2023 Smart Orchard Field Day at Grandview Ranch on Aug. 2 to discuss their joint findings and showcase new technologies. The Smart Orchard Field Day was the culmination of a three-year project implemented by the three organizations hosting the field day, according to an informational packet distributed at the event. “The 2023 Smart Orchard project was a large-scale effort to use technology to improve the efficiency and sustainability of apple production,” stated the packet. “The project focused on irrigation and chemical thinning task maps, which are used to inform variable rate applications. Variable rate applications are a more efficient way to inform irrigation timing and prescription chemical use, as they allow for different rates to be applied to different areas of the orchard based on their needs.”