UF/IFAS Engineer Earns National Honor for Work in Micro-Irrigation

With his compact-bed geometry design, Sanjay Shukla has helped growers around the world save on water, fertilizer and money.

In Shukla’s design, taller, narrow beds of soil replace shorter, wider ones. Current beds tend to be 3-feet wide and 6-8 inches in height. Shukla developed beds that are 16 to 24 inches wide and 10 to 12 inches high, and they can reduce the need for inputs such as pesticides, plastic and energy by bringing the beds close to the drip-wetted area.

Through these efforts and more, Shukla, a UF/IFAS professor of agricultural and biological engineering, won the Netafim Award for Advancements in Microirrigation from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

“I am honored, and I am thankful to my research team and the farmers of Florida and elsewhere, without whom this would not have been possible,” Shukla said of his award.

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