An investigation was undertaken to find a solution that farmers could implement into their farming methods in order to reduce water consumption and then, in the future, seek a scaling up of that strategy. Tensiometers were trialed and made attractive to farmers through a structured field test, the results of which could then be used to predict water savings on a much larger scale.
With a program cost of US$660,835, funded by PepsiCo Foundation, water usage by participating farmers was reduced from 3,448,000m3 to 2,800,000 m3 over the span of 3 years. The program also resulted in a 19% reduction in withdrawals, leading to a 24% mean reduction in energy use per acre.