David Wiens works on organic cotton cultivation in the state of Texas. In 2018, Sally Fox, cotton breeder focusing on natural-colored varieties of cotton and also our long-term important supplier, thankfully introduced us to him and we started a contract relationship.
Before starting to cultivate organic cotton at 30 years old, David had already founded a company, green planet drip, that offers drip irrigation systems for agricultural lands.
He started his company after seeing so much water being wasted with pivot systems that delivered so little results. Many people thought that giving a plant an excessive amount of water would deliver the most out of a harvest season. However, it only exhausted valuable water and even did not bring about better crop quality and quantity in comparison to drip irrigation. He wanted to assist growers in a more efficient way and the least amount of water.
He utilizes subsurface drip irrigation (SDI), a variant on conventional drip irrigation in which the dripline (tubing and drippers) is submerged underneath the soil surface instead of being laid on the top. This allows water to direct outreach to the roots. The depth and width of the dripline are contingent on the soil type and root structure of the plant. SDI is a root zone control method as well as an irrigation system. Fertilizer would be added to the root zone in the amount that is most beneficial, resulting in higher usage efficiency and improved crop production.
This system has two advantages: curbing the water consumption by 60% in comparison with the center pivot irrigation system, increasing the yield. By growing organic cotton scientifically through utilizing data and GPS, he has been practicing highly efficient farming without wasting the water resource.