Root Demand Irrigation (RDI) recently accepted one of 50 awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) for the development of its subsurface irrigation product. ASABE further honored RDI by naming it one of five innovations that will change the nature of the crop farming industry.
Root Demand Irrigation is a unique form of subsurface irrigation that interacts with the plants’ roots to release water to meet the crop’s requirements. The RDI tube, a combination of the material science of DuPont and irrigation technology expertise and manufacturing of Valmont Irrigation, is the key component of the new product. The game changer offered by RDI is the way the tube senses the naturally occurring chemicals released by the plants’ roots that in turn releases water at the most beneficial time for the plants.