Irrigation Efficiency, Water Conservation

Irrigation can be expensive, taking into account the initial capital investment, installation costs, annual costs for energy used for pumping, labor, maintenance and other costs.

On the other hand, it’s near the top in risk management.

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“I don’t think the long-term forecast for rain is looking too good out here,” says Dr. Dana Porter, Associate Professor and Agricultural Engineering Specialist – Water Management at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Service in Lubbock. “So we have to start planning to figure how we’re going to do it efficiently and make some decisions.”

Whether a new irrigation system is economically justified depends on the cost of equipment, maintenance, the potential for moisture and commodity prices. When the price of a crop is higher, it is easier to justify the investment in irrigation.

“When you take all of that into consideration, it can be expensive,” Porter says. “It’s a good risk-management tool if your rainfall is unreliable, or insufficient, or just not well timed. Irrigation can minimize your drought losses.”

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