Document Type

Article - Abstract Only

Publication Date

2025

Keywords

Irrigation Water Management; Water Use Efficiency; yield contest

Abstract

The 2014 Arkansas Water plan projected an annual groundwater gap of 7 million acre-feet by 2050, with 80% of groundwater withdrawals associated with agricultural irrigation. To address the challenge, Irrigation Water Management (IWM) practices have been promoted as strategies to improve Water Use Efficiency (WUE) while maintaining crop yields. However, most evidence supporting the IWM practice's effectiveness comes from controlled experimental settings, which may not fully reflect actual producer fields. In response, Arkansas introduced the "Most Crop per Drop" Irrigation Yield Contest in 2018, measuring WUE directly at the farm level across rice, corn, and soybean farms. This study aims to identify which IWM practices, and their combinations are associated with higher WUE and compare WUE outcomes between producer fields and controlled experimental fields. This study sets out to analyze the use of 6 IWM practices (i.e., Computerized-Pipe-Hole-Selection / CHS, Surge Irrigation, Soil Moisture Sensors, Multiple-Inlet with Poly-Pipe Rice Irrigation, Alternate Wetting and Drying, and Furrow-irrigated Rice). The data for this study were collected during the 'Most Crop per Drop' contest held annually from 2018 to 2023 for Rice, Corn, and soybeans. Additionally, data from the 2022 Arkansas Irrigated Producers Phone Survey, conducted by the authors, were incorporated to gather further information on contestants and randomly selected non-contestants. Our findings show that the performance of IWM practices is not uniformly successful across crops. CHS only and CHS combined with Surge were linked to higher WUE in corn, while CHS combined with Sensors improved WUE in soybean fields. Additionally, using CHS, Surge, and Sensors together produced comparable WUE results in producer and trial fields for corn and soybeans. These findings offer practical insights for decision-makers and producers seeking strategies to enhance WUE and promote sustainable water management.

Comments

Conference abstract presented at the 2025 Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) Conference

Download

Share

COinS