The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has awarded $3.6 million for 93 different projects to implement on-farm water
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California Utility company, PG&E, sees a big opportunity to help farmers reduce their water use and electricity use, at the same time. By doing so, it can save precious water, help farmers save money, and help the power company itself reduce overall electricity demand – which means avoiding having to build costly new power plants.
PG&E has a few tools at its disposal, the biggest being financial incentives to help farmers switch to water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation.
Continue readingDon Cameron, a member of California’s State Board of Food and Agriculture and general manager of Terranova Ranch, is on the cutting edge of irrigation. His wine grape vineyards stretch for 1,300 acres, so maximizing water is a top priority. Cameron has used drip irrigation on these vineyards since 1982, a time when drip was still uncommon.
Making the switch to micro-irrigation has saved Terranova Ranch 15-20 percent on water costs. When Cameron took over as general manager, he recalls, “I was told we couldn’t grow tomatoes. I was told the ground was too light.” Processing tomatoes now occupy 2,300 acres at Terranova, due in large part to Cameron’s implementation of drip systems. He contends, “We eliminate evaporation from the soil surface and provide uniform distribution of water and reduce fertilizer usage along with producing a 28 percent higher yield. We no longer have excess water accumulation at the end of fields as we did when we furrow irrigated.”
But drip irrigation isn’t the only practice that makes Cameron a pioneer in water use efficiency.
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The use of flood and center pivot irrigation of crops via the waters of the Ogallala Aquifer is as hot a discussion topic as the current drought.
To many who mine the aquifer to make a living, trying to keep a profitable way of life sustainable in a time when the broader public is seeking more conservation of resources yet wanting inexpensive, plentiful and safe food is problematic.
Is subsurface drip irrigation the answer?
Continue readingThe Irrigation Association recently hosted a webinar titled, “Mitigating Effects of Drought — Visions for Sustainable Irrigation” as part of its “Smart Irrigation Month: Bringing Water to Life” webinar series. IA government affairs director John Farner hosted the event and provided a brief overview of drought stricken areas of the United States, and explained how efficient irrigation can help.
Then featured speaker, Dr. Puneet Srivastava of Auburn University, made a compelling case for irrigation of non-irrigated crops in Alabama and Georgia. The southeast boasts prime, rainfed cropland, but farmed acres have steadily declined for decades due to poor yields in comparison with irrigated cropland in other states. This economic downturn could be reversed by irrigating from on-farm reservoirs filled by winter rains, and boosting yields considerably.
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Water is a precious commodity. Just ask California growers trying to navigate through a drought that is said to be one of the worst since the 1500s.
In March, the California Farm Water Coalition upgraded its estimate of acres growers will leave idle this year to 800,000, up from 500,000, because of a lack of water. According to USDA’s Drought Monitor, the drought in 95% of the state is being called “Severe” to “Exceptional.”
What can California and growers in the West do? Unfortunately, options are limited. Conservation is an obvious solution — and most growers in the West are already well down that road. During the last couple of decades, many have turned their attention to drip irrigation, which is considered to be the most efficient way to water crops.
Continue readingAccording to second generation farmer, Pete Aiello, “there has been a lot of finger pointing as California endures a drought, and most of it seems to be directed toward agriculture.”
“California farmers do their best to make every drop of water count,” Pete says. “My family’s farm started installing drip irrigation systems in 1985. Local experts estimate that 80 percent of Santa Clara County’s irrigation is done through low-volume irrigation such as drip tape and micro sprinklers.”
Learn more about Pete Aiello’s take on agriculture, the California drought, and drip irrigation by clicking the title or the following link:
Continue readingRoger Johnson and his family have farmed an 80-acre plot just outside the western city limits of Hoxie, Kan., for years under flood irrigation. Even while using all of the 800 gallons per minute available, it was necessary to split the 80-acre piece in two and farm different crops to manage the water.
“We always had problems getting water through the field,” Johnson explains, “and many times the crop we produced would be very good on one end of the field and nonexistent at the other. I remember before we installed subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) on the field, one year we made 165 bushels of corn there.”
In 2012, a very dry year even in country that expects only 15 to 18 inches of rainfall annually, Johnson and his brother, Bob, and son, Heath, binned 220 bushels per acre on the 80-acre field by applying water at a 600-gallonper- minute rate—75% of the well’s capacity—with subsurface drip irrigation. This past year, that same field produced a 79-bushel soybean crop.
Continue readingIf you weren’t able to join us at the 2014 World Ag Expo and help us celebrate the kick-off to Toro’s Centennial year, here is a video of our Vice President of Worldwide Micro-Irrigation, Mike Drazan, addressing local media on the rare milestone of 100 years in business. Mike also discusses Toro’s history in the agricultural industry and announces some new drip irrigation products.
Continue readingWith no end in sight to California’s record drought, state leaders are right to focus most of the $687 million relief package they announced Wednesday on longer-term efforts to conserve and recycle water.
But if we’re really all in this together, leaders must pay far more attention to the biggest user — agriculture, which takes anywhere from 62% to 75% of available water in a given year, depending on how that consumption is measured.
As The Sacramento Bee’s Matt Weiser reported on Sunday, while more farmers are using drip irrigation, which is far more efficient than flooding fields, many are stuck in the old ways. And while urban water systems must reduce per capita water use 20% by 2020 or risk losing state money, state law does not put the agricultural sector under similar conservation requirements.
Continue readingCalifornia’s drought could prove devastating to the state’s farmers and ranchers. But the dry spell has brought a gusher of new business to companies that provide them with water.
That much was clear at this year’s World Ag Expo, which kicked off Tuesday in Tulare, a town of 60,000 about 45 miles south of Fresno. At one booth was a well repair company that had to add extra shifts to meet all the agricultural demand for groundwater. Nearby, a firm that provides turbine pumps for wells said orders were coming in so furiously it was running out of parts. And several feet away, a drip irrigation maker said it was taking orders from farmers months ahead of schedule as the prospect of enough rain over the winter appeared remote.
The World Ag Expo is the largest farm equipment show in the world — a three-day extravaganza of high-tech tractors, automated dairy milkers and mechanized tree harvesters on 2.6 million square feet of fertile Central California soil.
But this year, the annual event is also a window into the frantic struggle taking place to keep the world supplied with fruit, nuts and vegetables from the Golden State. Amid what could be one of the worst droughts in California’s recorded history, growers are relying on a host of companies to help them deliver what water remains to their fields.
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