Military Technology Aids Jersey Water Quality Management

Technology developed for weather forecasting and the military could improve the Island’s water quality by reducing the amount of chemicals applied to fields, a farmer has said. Since 2010 nitrate levels in groundwater, streams, reservoirs and bays have fallen by a third but Mike Renouard, technical director of the the Jersey Royal Company, says more work needs to be done. And that means adapting ground-sensing technology and satellite imagery to produce a digital map of agricultural fields that details – to a square metre – precisely what inputs are needed to grow crops.