GSA committee backs forwarding HydroSat measurement contract amid grower push to keep LandIQ option

Madera County GSA staff presented a procurement recommendation to consolidate satellite-based measurement to HydroSat for three years, citing a grower questionnaire in which 52% of respondents selected HydroSat as their preferred measurement method.

Stephanie Agneson said measurement processing costs are substantial — staff identified roughly $300,000 in the last budget for measurement methods, about 10% of a reported $3 million GSA administration budget — and proposed that consolidating methods could reduce duplicative processing and costs. Staff also added an accounting‑platform option to the procurement to evaluate potential cost savings.

Noah Lopez of the Madera Ag Water Association countered that acreage enrollment is roughly split: staff provided (and Lopez cited) figures indicating about 37% of acreage used LandIQ and 36% used the alternative (described in the meeting as EarWatch/HydroSat), leaving a nearly even split. Lopez warned that removing LandIQ would force roughly half of acreage to change measurement methods, potentially causing frustration and operational disruption. He asked the committee to consider contracting LandIQ or to phase any transition.

Staff provided a cost comparison: LandIQ base service was listed at roughly $131,000 per year and an additional internet‑access option at about $66,000, making LandIQ more expensive than the staff‑recommended HydroSat option in certain configurations. Committee members discussed a possible staggered transition to mitigate impacts and decided to forward the HydroSat recommendation to the full GSA board for a final decision and to develop a transition plan that could be reviewed at the board meeting in November or December.

What’s next: the committee forwarded the procurement recommendation to the full board and requested staff prepare transition options and additional cost comparisons for board consideration.