Solar Powered Automated Pipe Water Management System, Water Footprint and Carbon Footprint in Soybean Production

            Water management in farming can now be much easier. Imagine crops being grown on their own by a system that uses the sunlight to function. Well no more imagining because the technology is already developed. This water management system is tested on soybean production in this lab report, “Solar Powered Automated Pipe Water Management System, Water Footprint and Carbon Footprint in Soybean Production.” It was also tested to see if the water management system would affect the water footprint and the carbon footprint of soybean production.

            The title clearly states what the article is about. Although it is very long it is necessary as it informs the reader that the water system will be tested using soybean production and measuring the water and carbon footprint. Anyone who is interested in agriculture will see this title and would most likely continue on to reading the abstract as they would see the importance of solar powered automated pipe water management systems in produce production.

            The abstract of this report was well constructed as it provided brief summaries of each section in chronological order. It was very clear and straight forward it as it gave readers a brief insight on how the pipe water management system worked at the beginning. It would then summarize the method and results but didn’t summarize the conclusion. I would suggest the author adds a sentence on why the water footprint and carbon footprint matter when introducing the method to help catch the interest of the reader. I also think the author should’ve ended the abstract with a summary of the conclusion rather than data from the results.

            The introduction does an excellent job in explaining the importance of soybean production and water level regulation. It also explains the concept of irrigation automation and its relationship to carbon footprints. It also explains the concept of external and internal water footprints and their relationship with the system. Additionally, the report provides a topic sentence that states the whole purpose of this experiment which is, “to develop a solar-powered automation control applied to pipe irrigation and drainage system which was set below the soil surface using perforated pipe and use it in trial and to estimate the contribution of water footprint and carbon footprint originated from soybean production related to automatic water management.”

            The material and methods section of the article provides clear and easy steps to take when doing this experiment. There are a lot of visuals in this section to help make it easier to understand along with precise measurements to follow when setting up the pipes. It also provides information on the components of the automatic controller and how to calculate the water footprint and carbon footprint. Due to all the different details and components in this section it can be considered replicable, making it more reliable.

            The results and discussion section are combined into one section in this report. The data is presented in easy to read tables and graphs which are each labeled to help make it easier to understand. Accompanying each table and graph is a discussion of the results and explanation of the data being presented. It is very convincing as the authors provide logical explanations and made connections between their results at the end of the section.

            The conclusion section wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. The conclusion only gave final data on the productivity of soybeans, the water footprint, and the carbon footprint. The authors should have used the last paragraph from the discussion section in the conclusion to better close out the article.

            The reference section give credit to 15 different sources. This shows that a lot information used in this study was by a lot of other people and organizations which causes this study to be more credible and reliable.

            In conclusion, this article is composed of different sections that all create an amazing lab report. It provided a detail understanding of solar powered automated pipe water management systems and is organized in proper format. It is very effective in showing and the benefits of solar powered automated pipe water management systems and is very easy to follow.