Agriculture

Drip Irrigation is the Ideal Method for Meeting Watering Demands.

Alfalfa is a crop that has been predominately grown in the western United States dating back to the Gold Rush days. It is the third most valuable crop in the United States, behind corn and soybeans, but its true economic impact is much greater as it provides the high energy feed for dairy cows as well as other types of livestock. Production of Alfalfa has steadily increased because of its strong vitality, adaptability, high production level, superior quality, and multiple uses. Alfalfa is a water-intensive crop but, despite its high demand for water, alfalfa is also heralded for its high water-use efficiency (the amount of water required to produce a unit of crop yield). Because alfalfa is able to utilize nearly all of the water applied to its root zone, drip irrigation is the ideal method for meeting the crops watering demands.

The Challenge for Alfalfa Growers

Alfalfa is a uniquely-demanding, water-intensive, perennial crop with a deep root system. But even a little stress caused by too much or too little water will have a negative effect on its growth, development and overall stand quality. That’s why unpredictable climates and wasteful irrigation methods like flood aren’t good enough – you need consistency, not vulnerability to over or undernourishment.

Subsurface Drip Irrigation Brings Farming to a New Level of Efficiency

Irrigating alfalfa is much different than irrigating most other crops because it is a perennial crop with a deep root system that can pull water from deep within the soil profile. Of the common agronomic crops, alfalfa consumes the largest amount of water. Its consumptive use can exceed 46 inches of water in a typical year. Among the many challenges, growers are faced with is the fact that stress caused by too much or too little water has a direct effect on alfalfa yields, crop growth, development, and overall stand quality. It is for this reason that growers are always evaluating their irrigation methods to ensure they are using the most efficient method possible. Learn more about the different methods of irrigation being employed by today’s growers.

Today’s Alfalfa growers are primarily using three methods of irrigation: Flood, Center Pivot and Subsurface Drip irrigation.

  • Flood Irrigation (also called surface irrigation) uses the soil surface to flow water down the field from high to low areas. While it is still a common method of irrigation, it also requires an extraordinary amount of water, lacks in uniformity and is the most difficult to manage due to its dependence on soil properties and field topography. As water availability decreases, growers are finding that flood irrigation is not a sustainable method of irrigation for their operation.

  • Center Pivot Irrigation is a popular method of irrigation as it offers growers more efficient and more uniform delivery of water to the alfalfa crop when compared to flood irrigation. But, despite its efficiency when compared to flood, fields that use center pivot systems have increased weed pressure, are more susceptible to diseases due to wet foliage and lose water due to evaporation before it reaches the plant’s root zone. UC Davis research has also shown that the constraints on water application by center pivots, may result in the deep-rooting alfalfa plants not receiving the right amount of water for maximum growth.

  • Subsurface Drip Irrigation is a management tool that allows precise control over the root zone environment of an alfalfa crop. This control can be used to increase yields, reduce water needs and runoff or better manage crop quality. SDI enables optimal uniform soil moisture with outstanding aeration and directly disperses water and nutrients to the crop’s root zone.

Make Your Farming Operation More Profitable

Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) is a management tool that helps you gain control of the root zone environment by delivering water and nutrients straight to the roots of each plant. It helps you maintain optimal soil moisture levels, uniformly across your field, with better aeration. The result is increased yields, reduced water needs, and runoff, better management of crop quality, and less fertilizer and labor cost.

Additionally, you can use digital control systems to monitor and optimize your yield as it’s growing, gaining data about every stage of the alfalfa lifecycle.

 

Learn More About Digital Farming

Benefits of SubSurface Drip Irrigation

From the invention of the first hoe to today’s GPS-based harvesters, every advancement in farming has been brought about in an effort to increase the efficiency of farming operations, provide farmers with better control over resources and produce higher-yielding crops with fewer input costs. Providing growers with a management tool that increases crop yields decrease input costs and increases operational efficiency, subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) just makes sense.

COMPLETE DRIP IRRIGATION SOLUTIONS FOR ALFALFA PRODUCTION

From seasonal to permanent systems, only Netafim offers complete integrated and customized drip irrigation systems, coupled with exceptional customer support.

Growers Stories

Meet the people pioneering precision irrigation

Randy McGee has doubled the tonnage per acre while using the same amount of water and the higher yields mean they are less affected by fluctuating commodity prices.

Randy McGee

Alfalfa, USA

NEED HELP FINDING THE BEST SOLUTION FOR YOUR FARM?

NEED HELP FINDING THE BEST SOLUTION FOR YOUR FARM?

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