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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #157334
Title: NEW AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

Author
item Sadler, Edward
item Camp Jr, Carl
item Evans, Robert

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Monograph Series
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/6/2006
Publication Date: 3/15/2007
Citation: Sadler, E.J., Camp Jr, C.R., Evans, R.G. 2007. New and Future Technology. In: Lascano, R.J., Sojka, R.E., editors. Irrigation of Agricultural Crops. American Society of Agronomy Monograph No. 30, 2nd Edition. Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy. p. 609-626.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In the 80 centuries during which humans have practiced irrigation, they have continually built equipment and developed methods to improve the system. This evolution resulted in the current state of the irrigation art, which this chapter strives to capture as its first objective. The current practice has seen a shift toward water conservation in response to increasing competition from non-irrigation water needs. Concurrently, but not necessarily always linked via water supply costs, is a widespread economic push caused by low farm profit margins. Loss of clean water supplies and increased availability of lower-quality water from municipalities, industries, and farms has caused increasing interest in using water of less than ideal quality for irrigation. Further, increased public awareness and interest in environmental effects of farm practices have caused corresponding shifts toward lower environmental impact of irrigation practices. In response to these four forces, improvements in irrigation have produced more yield, have reduced the amount of water needed per unit yield, and have worked to overcome problems with quality of water both coming into and leaving the irrigation system. The second objective of this chapter is to illuminate what trends may shape the next few years in irrigation. Extrapolation of the four trends mentioned above suggests that continued innovation will be increasingly necessary to sustain irrigated agriculture. These innovations will likely include increased precision in design and management of irrigation systems in both the temporal and spatial scales. Decision support systems for irrigation management will likely be both more extensive, integrating more sources of information, but must require ever less time to operate.