About Us
County Impact Statements - Lawrence County
Managing Arkansas' Water Resources
Managing Arkansas' Water Resources addresses the impacts of
agriculture on the quantity and quality of the state's water resources. The
program uses on-farm demonstrations, educational programs, evaluation tools
and media resources to assist clientele with reducing erosion and increasing
irrigation efficiency.
In this case, furrow irrigation and proper scheduling proved
to increase yields by 8 bushels per acre over flood irrigation without
scheduling. In this field, we utilized the FACET program to figure the correct
hole size based on the row length. More efficient irrigation not only increases
yields but reduced wasted water from runoff.
Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation (MIRI) also saves time, money
and most of all water. Water conservation is a topic important to all of us.
Rice production requires the use of irrigation in order to produce the crop.
The basic concept of multiple inlets is to proportion the
irrigation water evenly over the whole field at one time. The proportioning is
accomplished by placing irrigation tubing across each paddy and releasing water
into each paddy at the same time through holes or gates in the tubing.
"This field previously required five to six pumping days to
maintain a flood. Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation required two one and a half day
sessions weekly to maintain it. I intend to expand my MIRI." - Lawrence County
Rice Producer
"Everyone needs to use it." - Lawrence County Rice Producer
Soybean Furrow Irrigation and Irrigation Scheduling Demonstration Mike
Butts farm |
Impacts
- Producers report 10 – 50% less water use compared to conventional
flooding.
- Ten field demonstrations, two educational meetings and one field day
tour conducted to educate producers on the benefits of Multiple Inlet
Irrigation.
- The number of acres of Multiple Inlet Irrigation increased dramatically
over the past three years.
- MIRI used on estimated 20,000 acres of rice.
- Irrigation scheduling increases yields by 10 bushels per acre on
Lawrence County producer's field.
|
