W3128: Scaling Microirrigation Technologies to Address the Global Water Challenge
(Multistate Research Project)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
Homepage
The water crisis and how appropriately-scaled microirrigation can address it
The world population is expected to increase to 9.6 billion people by 2050 according to a recent UN Report. The world supply of food will need to increase by 60% from the 2005 level to meet the demands of this population increase. There is a need for a sustained and diligent effort from all agricultural technology segments to meet food and freshwater demands. Irrigated agriculture provides about 40% of the worlds food supply utilizing about 25% of the land resource. Although there was a great expansion of irrigated lands in the 20th century, most experts agree that such additional great expansion in the 21st century will not be possible. The problem could be exacerbated by the largely known effects of climate change on quantity and quality of water available for irrigation and the concurrent increases in water demand to meet drinking water, energy production, and other needs. The challenge is great to the agricultural sector. The agricultural community must not only increase the food supply, but it must also conserve water and protect water quality. Additionally, it must do this at multiple scales from the largest, most technologically advanced producers to small holder units with minimal technology input. Irrigation technologies will definitely play a large role in meeting these challenges and microirrigation is a specific method of irrigation that has some inherent advantages in addressing some of these challenges. Although it has long been recognized that microirrigation has great potential for efficiently using water resources and also protecting water quality, there is only an emerging realization that microirrigation can help to address the many scale issues affecting agriculture. The scaling of microirrigation and its associated technologies include: system design, scope and costs; cropping system economics and associated risks; availability and quality of land, soil, and water resources; international and intranational guidelines and focal points; manufacturers product lines; irrigation support systems, and end-user technology skills and financial status. This proposed multistate project concerning microirrigation does not have the expertise or resources to address all of the above issues, but it can address some of the tasks.
Unless timely action is taken, it is anticipated that water supply- and water quality related crises will affect economies and resources of national and international importance. Microirrigation can reduce the waste of water to a negligible amount and reduce the transport of contaminants to surface water and groundwater. Irrigation events can be fine-tuned to spoon feed water and nutrients just in time to minimize plant water stress. It can optimize crop production (more crop per drop) and in many cases increase the quality of agricultural products.
Issues and Justification for Objective 1
The most common definition of irrigation scheduling is simply the determination of when and how much water to apply. Looking to the future, a more conservation-oriented and economically profitable definition can be stated as delaying any unnecessary irrigation with the hope that the cropping season ends before the next irrigation is needed. The crucial meaning of these two alternatives is not fundamentally different, but the complexity of perfect irrigation scheduling is best illustrated by the second definition. Many producers have uncertainty about whether their existing irrigation scheduling is correct, so they err on the side of applying extra water. This is not only an inefficient use of water, but may also cause water quality problems from runoff or leaching or may reduce crop quality. Development of more robust irrigation scheduling products that might address the various economic and technological skills of the end-users might reduce producer uncertainty and thus increase use of sound science-based irrigation scheduling. By combining more than one of the primary plant-, soil-, or ET-based irrigation scheduling methodologies, the producer might be persuaded through the mounting of evidence that the techniques are correct for sustainable crop production. Additionally, producers can easily make great strides at improving irrigation management while on that difficult journey towards that perfection of resource management. However, data are needed from a range of crops and environments to quantify the effects of different irrigation scheduling approaches on the relation of yield or product quality to applied/available water.
Issues and Justification for Objective 2
According to the 2000 survey from the International Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), microirrigation comprised less than 2% of the worlds irrigated land area. Early and growing adoption of microirrigation usually begins with comparison of microirrigation to more traditional irrigation methods for the region. Although the results of system comparisons may differ with region, crop, soil, and climate constraints, the primary goal remains to optimize production for the various irrigation methods, particularly for those methods such as microirrigation which may be less familiar to producers.
There is a gross misconception about microirrigation that it is only suitable for high value crops. Advances in the available products and increased knowledge about microirrigation maintenance have allowed the technology to be used by some end-users of all technological skills and economic levels. Additionally, it should be noted that some of the greatest land area expansion opportunities lie in increased microirrigation of the broad-based commodity crops (grains, forages and fibers). Through broader dialog between developers and end-users and improved education, new design and management schemes should help to greatly increase the use of microirrigation worldwide.
Water use through microirrigation can be approached through the concept of more crop per drop. Thus, advanced and refined management techniques will be the key in further efficiency gains in water conservation. In some cases, these advanced techniques will be economical but technologically impractical for some end-users. In those cases, it will be necessary for participants in this project to work cooperatively to develop robust science-based surrogate management strategies that are more suitable to the end-user. Fortunately, microirrigation has some advantages that can be combined to achieve this goal, such as reducing the waste of water to a negligible amount and reducing the transport of contaminants to surface water and groundwater. Irrigation events can be fine-tuned to spoon feed water and nutrients just in time to avoid plant stress.
Issues and Justification for Objective 3
Traditionally, this multistate project has been very active in technology transfer with outreach activities averaging approximately 145 per year since 2009. Although individual participants engage in technology transfer to various levels (technical skill and economic status) of end-users, there has not been a committee-wide technology transfer effort in this regard. Scientists and engineers have a responsibility to conceptualize technologies to the greatest extent possible and also to help less technology savvy end-users reach an increased knowledge and comfort with a conceptual understanding rather than an easier but less universal general understanding. The new project proposes to step up efforts in technology transfer using a broad spectrum of paper and electronic technologies as well as to propose and sponsor technical sessions at national/international conferences during the last two years of the project. If funding can be secured, the project will propose a stand-alone conference or symposium. The goals of the technical sessions/conference will be to increase end-users comfort level with microirrigation technologies and to extend information resources to a greater audience through educators and technical service providers.
The world population is expected to increase to 9.6 billion people by 2050 according to a recent UN Report. The world supply of food will need to increase by 60% from the 2005 level to meet the demands of this population increase. There is a need for a sustained and diligent effort from all agricultural technology segments to meet food and freshwater demands. Irrigated agriculture provides about 40% of the worlds food supply utilizing about 25% of the land resource. Although there was a great expansion of irrigated lands in the 20th century, most experts agree that such additional great expansion in the 21st century will not be possible. The problem could be exacerbated by the largely known effects of climate change on quantity and quality of water available for irrigation and the concurrent increases in water demand to meet drinking water, energy production, and other needs. The challenge is great to the agricultural sector. The agricultural community must not only increase the food supply, but it must also conserve water and protect water quality. Additionally, it must do this at multiple scales from the largest, most technologically advanced producers to small holder units with minimal technology input. Irrigation technologies will definitely play a large role in meeting these challenges and microirrigation is a specific method of irrigation that has some inherent advantages in addressing some of these challenges. Although it has long been recognized that microirrigation has great potential for efficiently using water resources and also protecting water quality, there is only an emerging realization that microirrigation can help to address the many scale issues affecting agriculture. The scaling of microirrigation and its associated technologies include: system design, scope and costs; cropping system economics and associated risks; availability and quality of land, soil, and water resources; international and intranational guidelines and focal points; manufacturers product lines; irrigation support systems, and end-user technology skills and financial status. This proposed multistate project concerning microirrigation does not have the expertise or resources to address all of the above issues, but it can address some of the tasks.
Unless timely action is taken, it is anticipated that water supply- and water quality related crises will affect economies and resources of national and international importance. Microirrigation can reduce the waste of water to a negligible amount and reduce the transport of contaminants to surface water and groundwater. Irrigation events can be fine-tuned to spoon feed water and nutrients just in time to minimize plant water stress. It can optimize crop production (more crop per drop) and in many cases increase the quality of agricultural products.
Issues and Justification for Objective 1
The most common definition of irrigation scheduling is simply the determination of when and how much water to apply. Looking to the future, a more conservation-oriented and economically profitable definition can be stated as delaying any unnecessary irrigation with the hope that the cropping season ends before the next irrigation is needed. The crucial meaning of these two alternatives is not fundamentally different, but the complexity of perfect irrigation scheduling is best illustrated by the second definition. Many producers have uncertainty about whether their existing irrigation scheduling is correct, so they err on the side of applying extra water. This is not only an inefficient use of water, but may also cause water quality problems from runoff or leaching or may reduce crop quality. Development of more robust irrigation scheduling products that might address the various economic and technological skills of the end-users might reduce producer uncertainty and thus increase use of sound science-based irrigation scheduling. By combining more than one of the primary plant-, soil-, or ET-based irrigation scheduling methodologies, the producer might be persuaded through the mounting of evidence that the techniques are correct for sustainable crop production. Additionally, producers can easily make great strides at improving irrigation management while on that difficult journey towards that perfection of resource management. However, data are needed from a range of crops and environments to quantify the effects of different irrigation scheduling approaches on the relation of yield or product quality to applied/available water.
Issues and Justification for Objective 2
According to the 2000 survey from the International Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), microirrigation comprised less than 2% of the worlds irrigated land area. Early and growing adoption of microirrigation usually begins with comparison of microirrigation to more traditional irrigation methods for the region. Although the results of system comparisons may differ with region, crop, soil, and climate constraints, the primary goal remains to optimize production for the various irrigation methods, particularly for those methods such as microirrigation which may be less familiar to producers.
There is a gross misconception about microirrigation that it is only suitable for high value crops. Advances in the available products and increased knowledge about microirrigation maintenance have allowed the technology to be used by some end-users of all technological skills and economic levels. Additionally, it should be noted that some of the greatest land area expansion opportunities lie in increased microirrigation of the broad-based commodity crops (grains, forages and fibers). Through broader dialog between developers and end-users and improved education, new design and management schemes should help to greatly increase the use of microirrigation worldwide.
Water use through microirrigation can be approached through the concept of more crop per drop. Thus, advanced and refined management techniques will be the key in further efficiency gains in water conservation. In some cases, these advanced techniques will be economical but technologically impractical for some end-users. In those cases, it will be necessary for participants in this project to work cooperatively to develop robust science-based surrogate management strategies that are more suitable to the end-user. Fortunately, microirrigation has some advantages that can be combined to achieve this goal, such as reducing the waste of water to a negligible amount and reducing the transport of contaminants to surface water and groundwater. Irrigation events can be fine-tuned to spoon feed water and nutrients just in time to avoid plant stress.
Issues and Justification for Objective 3
Traditionally, this multistate project has been very active in technology transfer with outreach activities averaging approximately 145 per year since 2009. Although individual participants engage in technology transfer to various levels (technical skill and economic status) of end-users, there has not been a committee-wide technology transfer effort in this regard. Scientists and engineers have a responsibility to conceptualize technologies to the greatest extent possible and also to help less technology savvy end-users reach an increased knowledge and comfort with a conceptual understanding rather than an easier but less universal general understanding. The new project proposes to step up efforts in technology transfer using a broad spectrum of paper and electronic technologies as well as to propose and sponsor technical sessions at national/international conferences during the last two years of the project. If funding can be secured, the project will propose a stand-alone conference or symposium. The goals of the technical sessions/conference will be to increase end-users comfort level with microirrigation technologies and to extend information resources to a greater audience through educators and technical service providers.