The Conservation District’s
Irrigation Program: Saving Farmers
Time & Money and St. Joe County Water Resources
St. Joseph County is home to over 1,200 Center Pivot Irrigation Systems and over 110,000 irrigated farmland acres. This translates into 20.7 billion gallons of water being used for agricultural production in St. Joe County during an average year.*
While St. Joe County is rich in available water resources, being able to provide this quantity of water to farmers in most non-drought years with ease, we certainly don't want to over tax our water table either. This is why the St. Joe County Conservation District has two main objectives behind their Irrigation Water Management program.
1. To maximize the effectiveness of water applications on crops during the growing season.
2. To minimize water consumption in such a way as to always have enough available for everyone's use.
To assist irrigators in the responsible utilization our county’s water resources, the St. Joe County Conservation District provides two unique services.
System Uniformity Evaluations: A System uniformity evaluation measures water output along the entire center pivot irrigation system. This process involves running the system over catch cans, documenting water output in each can, and then analyzing the results (see photo above). An evaluation report is provided which includes a data spreadsheet, uniformity graph, and documentation of any system malfunctions. This report also recommends ways to improve output uniformity.
Improving a system’s uniformity can help reduce energy costs, conserve water resources, reduce overspray, minimize soil erosion and nutrient loss due to leaching, and can reward a farmer for investing in system upgrades with a fairly significant NRCS financial incentive. Click here to read more or to learn about pricing.
Irrigation Scheduling: Irrigation scheduling is another service the St. Joe County Conservation District provides irrigators. Scheduling helps reduce operation costs by more accurately determining and controlling the rate, amount, and timing of irrigation in a planned and efficient manner.
Conservation District Technicians take weekly measurements of your field’s soil moisture content and utilizing a state of the art Irrigation Scheduling Program designed by MSU, issue you weekly water-needs forecasts based upon your field’s unique needs. All of this is specifically determined by your crop’s growth stage, soil type, evapo-transpiration rates and your area’s recent rainfall rates.
During the 2009 growing season, the St. Joe County Conservation District assisted 24 farmers with irrigation scheduling services on over 70 fields within St. Joe, Branch, and Kalamazoo counties. Farmers who utilize the Conservation District’s irrigation scheduling service can receive incentive payments through the NRCS’s new program called the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP). This federal program provides financial and technical assistance to farmers who implement agricultural water enhancement activities on their farms. Click here to read more or to learn about pricing.
As we approach the 2010 growing season, the Conservation District remains committed to providing both System Evaluation and Irrigation Scheduling services to all farmers who request our assistance. Call our office today at 269-467-6336 for further information or to order service.
* One inch of water on one acre = 27,000 gallons. In an average year, 7 inches of water are applied to each acre, or 189,000 gallons. St. Joe County has 110,000 acres of irrigated fields. 189,000 gallons X 110,000 acres = 20,790,000,000 gallons of water per year.