Many corn growers are adopting drip irrigation because drip irrigation optimizes yields, minimizes inputs, and maximizes profits. Plus, in many cases the system pays for itself in less than two years.
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Loyd Jordan is a 3rd generation farmer who cultivates 3,500 acres southwest of Lubbock in Terry and Lynn counties, Texas. He irrigates 1,250 acres with pivots and, most recently, 300 acres with subsurface drip irrigation. A neighbor had tried drip and said good things about water savings, getting increased yields on fewer acres, and how easy it was to apply fertilizers and control insects. So in 2004, Jordan installed 40 acres. He liked it so much that he installed an additional 120 acres in 2007, and then another 140 acres in 2009. Now he prefers drip to the pivots he has used for so many years.
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In as few as four steps, this drip systems wizard: Drip Irrigation Payback Wizard will quickly provide an estimate of how long it will take to recover the costs of investing in a drip irrigation system and estimate how many additional acres could be irrigated with the conserved water. Click here to access the online Drip
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Drip Irrigation scheduling is the process of deciding when to run the drip irrigation system, and for how long. It is a complex topic but of utmost importance because it influences whether the crop gets the right amount of water and nutrients, and whether valuable water is wasted to runoff or deep percolation. Irrigation scheduling combines data and agronomic expertise in that the irrigator must balance known facts such as weather, chemistry, stage of plant growth and farm cultural operations.
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Drip irrigation may be defined according to a number of performance parameters including flow rates, wetting pattern, pressure rating and construction material. Regardless of the specific type, make, or model the following are drip irrigation definitions, characteristics, and best practices. Water is applied at a low flow rate – Emission device flow rates are typically
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Agricultural water quality and food safety issues are important, and growers are finding that drip irrigation is a valuable tool to help solve their problems. Drip Irrigation Avoids Runoff – In fruit and vegetable row crop production, significant runoff often occurs during the first couple of weeks of production when sprinklers are used to germinate
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It is a common misconception that a drip irrigation conversion will take several years to pay for itself. In fact, farmers and landscapers converting to drip irrigation have realized quick drip irrigation benefits, payback and substantially improved profits. For example, a corn and soybean farmer in Nebraska installed a drip irrigation system originally believing that
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Today it is more important than ever to use water resources wisely and to irrigate intelligently. Consequently, many farmers have turned to drip irrigation and have enjoyed improved profitability by increasing crop yield and quality while at the same time reducing costs from water, energy, labor, chemical inputs and water runoff. Many landscapers have also
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Drip irrigation has enabled farmers, nurserymen, and landscapers to conserve water for decades. This is primarily because, in contrast to gravity or sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation efficiency and technology applies water slowly and directly to the targeted plant’s root zone. In addition, drip irrigation technology has extremely high application uniformity, even when pressures vary from
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Last week, we blogged about a free webinar produced by the Grange Network called “Making Drip Pay” that discussed how to increase income, reduce costs, and improve flexibility with drip irrigation. Led by Inge Bisconer of Toro Micro-Irrigation, the webinar highlighted how growers have quickly paid for the investment. For example, Chris and Stephen Cox, a father son team in Kansas, paid for their $1,100 per acre system in 1.5 years by increasing corn yields by 100 bushels per acre, and by reducing costs by about $160 per acre. They also received $330/acre of EQIP cost share.
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