From the California Farm Bureau Federation:
California farmers’ adoption of drip irrigation systems has contributed to greater farming efficiency, according to a recent report prepared by aerial imagery and analytics provider Ceres Imaging. The study says early detection of clogs and leaks in drip systems would improve efficiency still further.
The study evaluated a dataset of 9,401 likely issues flagged in customer data from California specialty crops between March 1 and Sept. 30, 2020. After reviewing data from more than 700,000 acres of drip-irrigated farmland across the state, the study pointed out that “quickly detecting and correcting common irrigation issues represents a farmer-friendly opportunity to conserve water, reduce costs, and improve yields.”
In California, where farming conditions vary widely, drip systems are highly customizable and can be tailored to suit different field shapes, crop spacing, soil conditions and topography, the report says.
A review of 31 studies of 15 different crops by University of California researchers found that, on average, drip-irrigated fields produced 16% higher yields compared to flood-irrigated fields, with half of the reviewed studies reporting no statistically significant difference in yield and half reporting positive effects ranging from 12% to 66%, according to the Ceres report.
Despite its advantages, drip irrigation can be costly to install and labor-intensive to maintain, the report says, noting that drip irrigation maintenance must address problems with sediment clogging drip tape and emitters, chemical buildup from fertilizers, and other damage and related leaks. There can also be pressure issues and underwatering on uneven terrain, the study says.
“Growers, especially those managing large farms, rely on a combination of water flow meters, soil moisture probes, and periodic distribution uniformity testing to supplement field scouting—but these tactics may be too localized or too infrequent to detect common drip irrigation issues before they negatively affect crop health,” the report states. “Finding and correcting drip irrigation issues more quickly therefore represents an opportunity to prevent water waste and protect yields.”
In drip-irrigated specialty crops, Ceres Imaging said it identified 27 acute irrigation issues per 1,000 unique acres during the course of a season, and said an irrigation issue affected more than 10 acres for every 170 acres.
“Our data show that drip irrigation issues such as clogs, leaks, and pressure issues are widespread in California specialty agriculture,” the report says, noting “a surprising lack of research” to quantify the statewide impact of drip-irrigation issues on water use or crop yield.
Further research and investment in techniques and technologies that help farmers detect and correct common drip irrigation issues more quickly is important, the report says. It calls for incentives, support and knowledge-sharing to help “facilitate the next phase of improvements in agricultural water use efficiency.”
The report recommends that farmers check for irrigation issues more often, and that field staff should be trained and incentivized to identify and act on irrigation issues.
Policymakers should become familiar with irrigation technology advances, the report says, and should consider possible incentives for irrigation-system evaluation, monitoring and testing.
Of the state’s approximately 8.5 million acres of irrigated farmland, a USDA census in 2017 found 46% irrigated by drip, 43% by flood systems and 11% with sprinkler systems.
