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No Water To Farm
Dr. Jason Krutz, Mississippi State University Extension research professor and a
representative of the Delta States Irrigation Conference spoke at opening ceremonies at the
20th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference recently, where he said the
biggest threat to irrigated agriculture in the mid-South is aquifer depletion.
Photo by John LaRose, Jr.
Researcher Opens Eyes To Threat Of Aquifer Depletion In Mid-South
BATON ROUGE, LA.
“The biggest threat to irrigated agriculture in the mid-South is aquifer depletion,” said Dr. Jason Krutz, Mississippi State University Extension research professor and a representative of the Delta States Irrigation Conference, who spoke at opening ceremonies at the 20th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference here recently.
“Researchers have been tracking water levels in our aquifers for decades, and their projection is that by 2038, if we do not change the way we irrigate aquifer depletion could be a catastrophe. The projections indicate that as we increase the cones of depression throughout the Mid-South, a number of wells within the cones of depression will run out of water, and then – what do we do?”
He informed those in attendance of the activities of the land grant universities and their federal counterparts in addressing the issue, and he discussed the agronomic and economic solutions to the threat that can save farmers money and reduce the threat to shut agriculture down in the future.
“There are declining aquifers in almost every state, there’s no way around that,” Krutz said. “That’s a fact. The 2007 data shows this is one of the fastest growing irrigation regions in the United States. It could be catastrophic for agriculture. That’s the threat.”
He urged farmers to look into the technologies available to save water that have been developed.
“Eighty-percent of the irrigated acres in Mississippi are furrow irrigated,” he stated. “You have to have computerized hole selection (CHS), i.e., Delta Plastics Pipe Planner, on your farm.” He discussed surge irrigation, which, he said, will improve irrigation efficiency by about 25 percent, saving a farmer $10 an acre. “Otherwise you are using 25 percent more water than you have to. If you don’t know what CHS or Pipe Planner is, you have to get with it. Go to one of these lectures available at this conference.”
Without these tools, how does a farmer actually decide to irrigate the crop? Using visual cues, you’re simply responding to heat stress and not really drought stress. Soil moisture sensor technology can help. “It can tell you if you have yield loss, and give you other valuable information.”
From data out of Arkansas and Mississippi in 40- to 60-acre blocks, those irrigating using these irrigation tools are using 30 percent less water.
“We are also looking at soybeans, different management styles to improve yield,” Krutz explained. “Rice guys in a soybean rotation who are still planting soybeans flat are flooding the fields, and flood is such an inefficient delivery system. You’re not only using the same water, you are tossing off 10 bushels and looking at a $100 loss, if you are planting flat. Can you throw off $100, or is it worth putting the crop on a bed and using CHS and surge irrigation to furrow irrigate?”
He discussed corn also. “When I got here we did not know how to irrigate corn. By studying data from 16 farms in three years, we found we are using 40 percent less water with the irrigation tools and we’re making seven more bushels per acre.”
He said one of the most difficult problems facing Mid-South agriculture is how to grow rice with less water? Approaches include multiple inlet rice irrigation and alternate wetting and drying.
“Using these tools, data out of Mississippi, which is the same in Arkansas, shows we can reduce water use in rice up to 30 percent while making $40 to $50 more an acre. Please go to the irrigation conference meetings, and press us on how to get those results. If we pump this aquifer dry, we are all out of business,” he warned. ∆
BETTY VALLE GEGG-NAEGER: Senior Staff Writer, MidAmerica Farmer Grower
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