Drip Irrigation on Processing Tomatoes – Worth Farms, Huron, CA

Chuck Herrin manages Worth Farms in California’s Westlands Water District.  Founded by his grandfather, a custom harvester turned farmer, Worth Farms today grows 4,500 acres of drip irrigated crops including 3,500 acres of processing tomatoes.

“Our best-ever yield on conventional sprinkler/gravity acreage was 64 tons/acre in 2004.  five years later, we are achieving 50-100% increases in yields with drip, and an overall average of 65 tons/acre operation wide.  On top of that, water, labor, fertilizer, and herbicide savings are substantial.  We used to apply 36 inches of water per acre to meet a crop ET of about 18 inches.  Now, we only apply 24 inches of water, a 33% savings.  At the same time, we have cut labor use by half, and fertilizer use by a third.  This is significant.”

Click here for the full Worth Farms case study and to find out why drip irrigation is their preferred method of irrigation.  For Spanish, click here.