Annual/Termination Reports:

[08/25/2006] [07/26/2007] [08/28/2008] [08/18/2009] [07/20/2010]

Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Objectives:<br /> <br /> 1) Coordinate the standardization/documentation of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> " Colorado State University with funding from the Colorado Water Conservation Board is in the process of installing a large weighting lysimeter (3m x 3m x 2.5 m) at the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station research center at Rocky Ford, Colorado (Arkansas River Basin).<br /> " CoAgMet is in the process of changing over from Kimberly-Penman to ASCE standardized PM for the reference equation.<br /> " CSU has been working on developing remote sensing of ET using an energy balance model RESET (Remote Sensing of ET) following a similar methodology as SEBAL and METRIC.<br /> " Texas is cooperating with Rick Allen (CA) on modifying the FAO-56 equations with the ASCE/EWRI standardized hourly equation for a short reference crop (grass). Work is nearing completion on the revision to ASCE Manual No. 70and is likely to be published in 2007.<br /> " Bushland (TX) crop coefficients were summarized on a day after planting scale. Future work will expand the summary into the FAO-56 formats for both ASCE/EWRI reference ET for GDD and ground cover scales.<br /> " Crop coefficients derived from the large weighing lysimeters at Bushland over time have been estimated per growth stage for the multiple planting dates within the TXHPET models. A multiple crop (corn, grain sorghum and soybeans), long season variety, replicated, study is underway at the NPRF to gather adjustment data of the Kcs based on plant stage for multi-planted dates in the TXHPET. The adjustment is planned for linkage to accumulated crop heat units based on the day after planting scale.<br /> " Thomas Marek, in cooperation with Dr. Terry Howell of the ARS Water Management Unit at Bushland has been involved in the design, construction, installation and instrumentation of a large weighing lysimeter for crop coefficient determination in the Arkansas River Valley region of Colorado.<br /> " The automated irrigation scheduling for center pivot irrigation project involves the concept that combines proven monitoring and control hardware (developed by SDSU and AgSense) with a software package that calculates ET and soil water balances to manage the center pivot water applications with minimal operator intervention during the irrigation season. <br /> " An irrigation scheduling model was developed to simulate operation and water management of the center pivot machine.<br /> " SDSU has provided crop water use information (ET) for three years on their Climate Web Page. The project was initially implemented for three automatic weather stations in western South Dakota and was funded by the Bureau of Reclamation. Subsequently, crop water use has been available in query mode for 12 automatic weather stations. Eight sites will be added in 2006.<br /> " AgriMet uses a set of crop coefficients originally developed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Kimberly, Idaho.<br /> " AgriMet is researching the use of degree day methods to predict the break dormancy dates for perennial crops (alfalfa, pasture, hay, and lawn). Hopefully, these methods will be implemented in spring of 2007.<br /> " The US Bureau of Reclamation operates a network of 72 automated agricultural weather stations in the Pacific Northwest region, and 21 stations in the Great Plains region in Eastern Montana producing crop water use charts that are crop specific and station specific. This requires close coordination with local crop contacts (extension agents, crop consultants, etc.) in order to tie local crop development conditions to crop coefficient curves.<br /> " New Mexico introduced 2 low-cost soil monitoring instruments to a group of pecan producers, provide instruction on the use of internet-based irrigation scheduling resources, and provide assistance in utilizing these tools to improve their irrigation scheduling and possibly yield. Three out of five growers indicated they used either the granular matrix sensors (GMS) or tensiometer to schedule irrigations, but compared to the climate-based irrigation scheduling model, all growers tended to irrigate later than the models recommendation.<br /> " Graphical analysis of time-series soil moisture content measured with the GMS showed a decrease in the rate of soil moisture extraction coincident with the models recommended irrigation dates. These inflection points indicated the depletion of readily available soil moisture in the root zone. The findings support the accuracy of the climate-based model and suggest that the model may be used to calibrate the sensors.<br /> " Adjustment of alfalfa reference crop based local crop coefficients have been made by Kansas State University for those who wish to use ET estimates made using Penman-Monteith equation for grass reference crop.<br /> " Work is in progress to improve and update existing irrigation scheduling software and soon KanSched2 will be released.<br /> <br /> 2) Evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include any information collected to determine the types of irrigation scheduling tools used by growers. <br /> <br /> " Colorado has data from two irrigation management surveys, which show ET-based irrigation scheduling has low (<15%) adoption in most areas. It is highest in the San Luis Valley. <br /> " The AgriPartner program of Texas Cooperative Extension [Mr. Leon New, Mr. O.R. (Reggie) Jones (Coordinator), Dr. Brent Bean, Dr. Carl Patrick and Mr. Don Dusek] continued operations of on-farm irrigation and dryland demonstrations where the North Plains ET (NPET) network (part of the Texas High Plains ET network) models and irrigation scheduling data were again validated and utilized with area producers in 2005. The total number of field demonstrations was 43 and represented a slight reduction in overall number as compared to the previous year due again to reduced funding for the program. The total program evaluations and acreages conducted in 2005 were as follow:<br /> <br /> Crop # Demonstrations Acreage # Counties<br /> " corn 4 300 3<br /> " cotton 17 1400 9<br /> " forage/silage 2 121 2<br /> " peanut 6 547 2<br /> " sorghum 3 340 2<br /> " wheat (2004) 8 727 4<br /> " soybean 3 369 3<br /> Total 43 3,806 25<br /> <br /> " Part-time AgriPartner employees acquired data on the various commercial fields that tracked applied irrigation water (pivot, subsurface drip or furrow irrigation), rainfall, soil water use, yields, and crop phenology. Overall, the NPET crop growth models performed well. There were 31 producers that participated in the AgriPartner demonstrations.<br /> <br /> 3) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information. <br /> <br /> " The AgriMet program currently uses a custom graphical program to perform a daily review of all weather parameters used of ET computation. The AgriMet is currently developing a web connected excel-based spreadsheet approach that will improve this procedure.<br /> " Extension education meetings in Kansas counties for hands on training for using ET based irrigation scheduling tool KanSched. Annual Central Plains Irrigation Conference & Exposition has been a significant venue for this type of educational activities as well. Presentation also made at Irrigation Association (IA) meeting.<br /> " Kansas has developed effective documentation of irrigation scheduling information available through the web.<br /> www.oznet.ksu.edu/mil and www.oznet.ksu.edu/wdl <br /> " Annual Central Plains Irrigation Conference & Exposition has been a significant venue for this type of educational activity to irrigation industry groups. <br /> " The ABE Department in South Dakota implemented an email newsletter to extension personnel. Updates and articles have presented information on irrigation management and water conservation.<br />

Publications

Impact Statements

1. The lysimeter program, water use data of the ET network (PIN-Precision Irrigators Network) in the winter garden region (operated out of TAES-Uvalde), is being used by many individuals from many agencies, universities and industries.
2. It has been documented in 2005 that approximately 28 CRIS projects depended on or used the TXHPET data.
3. A larger number of specific studies under these projects use the TXHPET data, including the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Texas Cooperative Extension at 6 locations (Amarillo, Lubbock, Vernon, Uvalde, Temple and College Station-Spatial Sciences Lab), the USDA-ARS-Bushland, and West Texas A&M University at Canyon, for meteorological inputs, crop modeling and irrigation scheduling.
4. The Texas Water Development Board is in the process of implementing the estimation demand methodology developed by several Texas members of this (WERA-202) project which hinges on the ET network data.
5. Feasibility of conservation strategies based on network data along with TXHPET developments are being presented at a regional Soil and Water Conservation society meeting this summer.
6. The network crop water use data continues to be the cornerstone by which the regional water planning group recommends acceptable water application limits.
7. Groundwater conservation districts continue to use the NPET network crop water use data as the basis in adopting new pumping and application limits in their rules and regulations.
8. In New Mexico, the research and demonstration on the use of soil moisture sensors and Et schedule irrigation indicate that money is not enough of an incentive to get pecan growers to adapt any form of irrigation scheduling. Future activity has to be aimed at much simpler presentations of the information. Currently a simple nomoagraph is being developed to schedule irrigations.
9. In Kansas, during the period October to end of March, 44 farmers attended 5 hands-on training sessions. The cumulative ranking on usefulness or applicability of the materials according to participants was 4.83 in the scale of 1 = poor and 5 = excellent. Visitors to MIL website numbered 4,638 in 2005 and page views numbered at 31,547.

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Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Accomplishments:<br /> Objectives: <br /> 1) Coordinate the standardization/documentation of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling. <br /> Terry Howell (TX) continues cooperating with Rick Allen (ID) on modifying the FAO-56 equations with the ASCE/EWRI standardized hourly equation for a short reference crop (grass). Work is nearing completion on the revision to ASCE Manual No. 70 and is targeted to be published in 2007. Future work will expand the summary into the FAO-56 formats for both ASCE/EWRI reference ET for GDD and ground cover scales. Forage sorghum ET assessment on the lysimeters at Bushland is continuing in 2007. Crop coefficients derived from the large weighing lysimeters over time have been estimated per average growth stage for the multiple planting dates within the TXHPET models. The multiple, replicated, long season crop varieties study at the North Plains Research Field was completed in 2006 to gather adjustment data of the Kcs based on plant stage for multi-planted dates in the TXHPET. TXHPET growth stage model adjustment is planned in 2007-08 for linkage to accumulated crop heat units based on the day after planting scale. Thomas Marek, in cooperation with Dr. Terry Howell, was involved in the design, construction, installation and instrumentation of a large weighing lysimeter (similar to the unit at Bushland) for crop coefficient determination in the Arkansas River Valley region of Colorado. A scientific operations meeting was held at Rocky Ford, CO to assist personnel in operating the units. Installation and instrumentation of the large, monolithic lysimeter unit (3m x 3m x 2.5 m depth) is complete and is being planted and furrow irrigated to initiate equilibrium soil conditions around the lysimeter. Preliminary calibration results indicate a very high sensitivity level of the unit. Similarly, 2 additional lysimeters have been installed by Thomas Marek at Uvalde with lighter soils for regional vegetable ET crop coefficient determination, bringing the total to 6 fields and 1 grass reference unit. The work is being conducted cooperatively between Amarillo, Bushland and Uvalde. <br /> The automated irrigation scheduling system for center pivots developed by SDSU and AgSense is ready for field trials and involves the concept that combines proven monitoring and control hardware with a software package. The system calculates ET and soil water balances to manage the center pivot water applications with minimal operator intervention during the irrigation season. SDSU currently has 2 cooperators that are willing to field trial the system. SDSU has computed crop water use information (ET) for four years on the SDSU Climate Web Page. The project was initially implemented for three automatic weather stations in western South Dakota and is now available in a query mode for 12 automatic weather stations.<br /> Snyder and colleagues (CA) have developed a new computer application program (DETAW) to (1) estimate reference evapotranspiration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from 82 years of climate data, (2) correct for microclimate changes across the Delta, (3) apply crop coefficients to estimate evapotranspiration for 16 surface types, (4) use soil and crop characteristics to estimate yield thresholds and to determine management allowable depletions for irrigation schedule modeling, (5) model irrigation events, effective rainfall, and ground water seepage contributions based on water additions and losses, (6) determine evapotranspiration of applied water (ETAW), and convert the results to acre-feet of water used in the Delta uplands and lowlands. Efforts are expanding to determine crop coefficients using the surface renewal method. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has funded the purchase of 10 surface renewal stations and 10 sonic anemometer stations for calibration purposes. The University is working with the DWR regional staff people to train personnel on how to collect ET data for upgrading crop coefficient values. Snyder and staff have continued to work on the conversion of crop coefficients between ETo and ETr as part of the ASCE-EWRI Task Committee on Crop Coefficients. A simple method to convert was developed; however, additional work on improving the conversions will be presented at the Task Committee meeting in October 2007 at the USCID Conference in Sacramento, CA. Terry Howell and staff have worked on comparing the TXHPET data with results to be presented accordingly at the USCID meeting as well. CA personnel have worked with the NWS to add ETo to the NWS forecast products. The Sacramento NWS Office has developed software to add a daily ETo rate forecast to their prototype weather forecast page and they have developed a daily forecast ETo map.<br /> Scherer reported that since 1995 the NDSU Extension Service has provided accurate daily crop ET values to irrigators for the 10 major irrigated crops in North Dakota. These estimates are calculated using the weather data from the automated weather stations of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) website: http://ndawn.ndsu.nodak.edu/index.html. The user can view the daily water use of each crop as color coded maps or as numerical tables. Scherer (NDSU) indicated that crop water use maps and numerical tables on the NDAWN system were used extensively for irrigation scheduling. In June, July, August and September of 2006, there were around 5,000 successful requests for crop water use information. July had the most requests with the busiest week days being Monday and Thursday. During the day, 9 am to noon was the busiest time period. Many crop consultants working with irrigators access the Web site at least twice per week and increase the impact of the irrigation water management information by providing a multiplier effect.<br /> AgriMet continues to use crop coefficients derived by the ARS scientists at Kimberly, Idaho and computation of their ET procedure uses emergence dates that are provided by local contacts, producing crop water use charts that are crop specific and station specific. The 2007BRC network operated over 70 automated agricultural weather stations in the Pacific Northwest region, and 21 stations in the Great Plains region in Eastern Montana. <br /> 2) Evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include any information collected to determine the types of irrigation scheduling tools used by growers. <br /> California personnel documented a state survey of irrigation system use in 2002 that has been accepted for publication in the Journal of irrigation and Drainage, ASCE. An observation of growers using pressurized irrigation systems was that they were considerably more likely to use any irrigation scheduling method; this being important for possible adoption toward future use of ET-based or other methods of scheduling.<br /> <br /> NDSU(Scherer) indicated that the NRCS has adopted the NDSU computerized irrigation-scheduling program to support the irrigation water management portion of their Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). The program provides documentation showing irrigation management decisions made by the cooperator that the NRCS need to evaluate the impact of their water conservation programs. Since the inception of this program in 2003, over 200 copies of the program have been distributed to EQIP participants. Copies were also provided to many county NRCS offices and the state irrigation engineer<br /> The AgriPartner program of Texas Cooperative Extension [Mr. Leon New, Mr. O.R. Jones (Coordinator), Dr. Brent Bean, Dr. Carl Patrick and Mr. Don Dusek] continued operations of on-farm irrigation and dryland demonstrations where the North Plains ET (NPET) network (part of the Texas High Plains ET network) models and irrigation scheduling data were again validated and utilized with area producers in 2006. The total number of field demonstrations was 44. In total, there were 7 program crop evaluations in 25 counties with 5,625 acreages monitored in 2006. There were 34 producers that participated in the AgriPartner demonstrations. Thomas Marek at the North Plains Research Field conducted an ancillary research versus field monitored study in 2006 and resulted in the monitoring of 1,780 acres of crops, principally corn with 12 growers participating. Percentage of full ET applied by growers ranged from 55 to 95.3 %. Both efforts acquired data on the various commercial fields that tracked applied irrigation water (pivot, subsurface drip or furrow irrigation), rainfall, soil water use, yields, and crop phenology. Overall, the NPET crop growth models performed well again in 2006.<br /> Ted Sammons (NM) illustrated the new irrigation scheduling estimator that the Pecanigator software tool utilizes. This tool has been unveiled to farmers in the NM region for irrigation of pecans through a flood method. The objective was to promote a simple change into the concept of irrigation scheduling.<br /> 3) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information. <br /> CA personnel, regarding the Sacramento- San Joaquin River Delta (DETAW) project, used data from recent decades to develop a relationship between the Penman-Monteith (PM) ETo at several stations versus the Hargreaves-Samani (HS) ETo from one station (Lodi, CA). The results were used to identify isolines of correction factors to convert from HS ETo to PM ETo. Since temperature data were available from 1921 to the present, personnel were able to estimate the spatial distribution of PM ETo using 82 years of temperature data from Lodi. In addition, estimation of the daily spatial distribution of rainfall across the Delta was computed to determine weighting factors to estimate rainfall at any point within the Delta.<br /> Scherer indicated that NDAWN quality control and missing data and correction analysis is is performed initially at the High Plains Climate Center in Nebraska and then by NDAWN personnel. Missing data are interpolated from the five surrounding weather stations of NDAWN with NDAWN personnel then performing correction of the mechanical or electronic problem.<br /> <br /> AgriMet has developed a set of manual quality control procedures, both text-based and graphical, that easily identify any errors in the meteorological data used in ET computation. AgriMet uses meteorologically sound manual estimation procedures to completely fill in missing data.<br /> <br /> KSU illustrated a new web front end R&E site created with links to past meteorological data sets. Data QC routines are implemented and patterned after much of the routines of the Oklahoma Mesonet plus additional parameter limits are based on range, step and persistence tests. <br /> <br />

Publications

Impact Statements

1. The cooperating lysimeter programs and derived water use data of the Texas ET networks (TXHPET in the TX High Plains and PIN-Precision Irrigators Network in the winter garden region operated out of TAES-Uvalde), continue to be used by an increased number of producers and individuals from many agencies, universities and industries.
2. The new Texas High Plains ET network (TXHPET-http://txhighplainset.tamu.edu/) has successfully converted users to obtaining the majority of data dissemination by electronic venues rather than the fax paper method. The TXHPET team was awarded a blue ribbon award for the new site in the educational category of the ASABE educational competition in 2006.
3. It was documented in 2006 that approximately 24 CRIS projects in the TX High Plains depended on the TXHPET network data. Specific studies under these projects use the TXHPET data, by the agencies of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Texas Cooperative Extension at 5 locations (Amarillo, Lubbock, Uvalde, Temple and College Station-Spatial Sciences Lab), the USDA-ARS-Bushland, and West Texas A&M University at Canyon, for meteorlogical inputs, crop modeling, irrigation scheduling and teaching purposes.
4. 24 educational sessions, 11 popular articles and 4 technical workshops were held in the TX High Plains in 2006 to educate producers and users on ET and irrigation scheduling.
5. CA personnel conducted one presentation on the current status of water-balance irrigation scheduling at the California Plant and Soil Conference. The Basic Irrigation Scheduling (BIS) program for agricultural crops and the Landscape Irrigation Management Program (LIMP) were updated and are available at http://biomet.ucdavis.edu.
6. CA personnel conducted a short course on using the surface renewal method targeted toward state personnel, farm advisors and faculty. A users manual, logger and analysis programs were included with the materials disseminated.
7. NDSU irrigation scheduling methods and tools were presented at 5 irrigation workshops held in North Dakota and was presented in several articles in Water Spouts, the NDSU Irrigation newsletter. Over 500 copies of the material were mailed out and also posted on the NDSU Extension website.
8. In New Mexico, the research and demonstration on the use of soil moisture sensors and ET schedule irrigation indicate that money is not enough of an incentive to get pecan growers to adapt any form of irrigation scheduling. Future activity has to be aimed at much simpler presentations of the information. Currently a simple nomograph is being developed to schedule irrigations.
9. New Mexico had 3 referred articles on the adoption irrigation scheduling technology and 3 articles on the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools.
10. In Kansas in 2006, 44 farmers attended 5 hands-on training sessions. The cumulative ranking on usefulness or applicability of the materials according to participants was 4.83 with a scale of 1=poor and 5=excellent.
11. The AgriMet network provides daily estimates of crop specific ET for 70 locations in Bureau of Reclamations Pacific Northwest region and 21 locations in Reclamations Great Plains region in Montana. This information is used by farmers, irrigators, irrigation districts and irrigation consultants for irrigation scheduling in the Northwest. The information is available at http://www.usbr.gov/pn/agrimet and http://www.usbr.gov/gp/agrimet/index.cfm.
12. AgriMet personnel made 2 presentations and held 2 workshops on the AgriMet network.
13. AgriMet has developed a set of manual quality control procedures, both text based and graphical, that easily identify any errors in the meteorological data used in ET computation.

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Report Information

Participants

List includes members and visitors

t-marek@tamu.edu Thomas Marek, Texas A&M Univ.
tahowell@cprl.ars.usda.gov Terry Howell, USDA-ARS Texas
rlsnyder@ucdavis.edu Richard Snyder, Univ. of Calif., Davis
ppalmer@pn.usbr.gov Peter Palmer, USBR, Boise, Idaho
Thomas.Scherer@ndsu.edu Thomas Scherer, North Dakota State Univ.
troy-peters@wsu.edu Troy Peters, Washington State Univ.
rang@cabnr.unr.edu Rang Narayanan, Univ. of Nevada, Reno
Tsammis@nmsu.edu Ted Sammis, New Mexico State, Univ.
Malam@ksu.edu Mahbub Alam, Kansas State Univ.
Bart-n@campbellsci.com Bart Neff, Campbell Sci., Inc.
NPKenny@ag.tamv.edu Nick Kenny, Texas A&M Univ.
mddukes@ufl.edu Michael Dukes, Univ. of Florida
peter.robinson@por.usda.gov Peter Robinson, USDA-NRCS
xiuhaua.jia@udsu.edu Xiuhua Jia,
doug.hunsaker@ars.usda.gov Doug Hunsaker, USDA-ARS, Arizona
kellythorp@ars.usda.gov Kelly Thorp, USDA-ARS, Texas
airmak2@unl.edu Ayse Irmak, Univ. of Nebraska
rallen@uidaho.edu Rick Allen, Univ. of Idaho
jeppek@kimberley.uidaho.edu Jeppe Ksaerland, Univ. of Idaho
doug.toews@wdc.usda.gov Doug Toews, USDA
paulcolaizzi@ars.usda.gov Paul Colazzi, USDA-ARS Texas

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Accomplishments by WERA 202 Objectives: <br /> <br /> 1) Coordinate the standardization/documentation of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling. <br /> <br /> A large compilation of crop coefficient literature was collected and made available to all members of the WERA 202 and the ASCE-EWRI Crop Coefficient Task Committee via an FTP site at the University of California, Davis. <br /> <br /> UC Davis researchers completed an analysis on the conversion of crop coefficients between ETo and ETr as part of the ASCE-EWRI Task Committee on Crop Coefficients. The number of climate stations was expanded, and some stations outside of California were added. A second year of data was also tested. A publication is in preparation. Another program to estimate virtual crop ETc and to determine crop coefficients is under development.<br /> <br /> In California, the crop coefficients used in the California Irrigation Management Information System were derived mainly from FAO Irrigation and Drainage Papers 24 and 56 and from the Department of Water Resources Bulletin 113-3. A new cooperative project between UC Davis and DWR was initiated to update Kc information using a combination of eddy covariance and surface renewal methods. <br /> <br /> The USBR AgriMet network for ET information uses a set of crop coefficients originally developed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Kimberly, Idaho. The ET procedure uses emergence dates that are provided by local contacts, such as agricultural consultants or extension agents. Other required inputs include full cover and terminate dates. AgriMet crop coefficients are available on the internet at http://www.usbr.gov/agrimet/pn/cropcurves/About_Crop_Curves.html<br /> <br /> Bushland, Texas crop coefficients were summarized on a day after planting scale. Future work will expand the summary into the FAO-56 formats for ASCE/EWRI reference ET for GDD and ground cover scales.<br /> <br /> Crop coefficients derived from the large weighing lysimeters at Bushland over time have been estimated per growth stage for the multiple planting dates within the TXHPET models. Work funded through a grant from Texas Water Development Board netted data necessary to validate the multi-year corn study at the NPRF to obtain potential adjustment data of the Kcs based on actual plant stage for multiple planting dates within the TXHPET. Adjustment data have been compiled and publication is planned with linkage to the accumulated crop heat units based on the day after planting scale in the TXHPET models.<br /> <br /> Thomas Marek, in cooperation with Dr. Terry Howell of the USDA-ARS Water Management Unit at Bushland, was involved in the design, construction, installation and instrumentation of a large weighing lysimeter for crop coefficient determination in the Arkansas River Valley region of Colorado. Initial crop establishment and growth patterns indicate more cropping time is needed to establish equilibrium soil conditions around the large lysimeter. A new reference based lysimeter (12 Mg) is currently being installed in 2008 at the research site.<br /> <br /> Work is nearing completion on the revision to ASCE Manual No. 70, which is likely to be published in 2008 or 2009.<br /> <br /> No specific work on adjusting crop coefficients was done in Florida, Kansas, North Dakota, or Washington State this year.<br /> <br /> 2) Evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include any information collected to determine the types of irrigation scheduling tools used by growers. <br /> <br /> In Kansas, the ET based irrigation scheduling tool KanSched has been adopted by USDA-NRCS for the EQIP program in Kansas. Twelve sessions were held to refresh and train both NRCS personnel and producers. Educational meetings numbering 9 were held to introduce ET based irrigation scheduling and services provided by the Mobile Irrigation Lab (MIL). MIL webpage visitors numbered 1,176 and page views accounted to 3,440 so far. <br /> <br /> The online irrigation scheduling tool developed in Oregon is being evaluated through a two-year project in Washington State. It is being tried by several Washington growers and supported out of Washington State University during this time period. This has been adopted by the NRCS for the EQIP program in Washington for the evaluation period. Other more simple irrigation management tools (spreadsheet and paper-based) are under evaluation for use with Washington State.<br /> <br /> In Florida, work continues on the use of soil moisture sensor-based irrigation controllers to conserve water in landscape irrigation systems as well as drip irrigated vegetable systems. All irrigation controllers used in this work are commercially available products. Water conservation in landscape irrigation systems has been shown to range from 69 to 92% during the normally frequent rainfall conditions in Florida and ranged from 15 to 40% during dry conditions without reducing turfgrass quality. Irrigation savings on vegetables has been show to be as high as 50% without reducing yields and in some cases increasing yields. In addition, this type of irrigation control has been demonstrated to reduce leaching of soluble nutrients such as nitrate nitrogen by as much as 40 to 50%.<br /> The present work has been promising in terms of demonstrating the effectiveness and efficacy of soil moisture sensor irrigation control technology. <br /> <br /> Recent work on cooperating homes in Florida has shown soil moisture sensor controlled irrigation application as low as approximately 50% of comparison homes in the same region. Although, implementation of these controllers is being demonstrated on a limited number of cooperating homes, the technology has not been widely adopted. Thus, the water conservation potential under large scale adoption is unknown. Question such as, How much human follow-up is needed after controller installation for water conservation?, still remain. Similarly, implementation of soil moisture irrigation control at the field scale under vegetable production is also unknown. Many challenges exist when implementing soil moisture irrigation control of vegetables at the field scale including: hydraulic limitations to on-demand watering, wireless sensor communication, minimum runtime to initiate drip irrigation, to name a few. In summary, this technology needs to be demonstrated and monitored for water-conservation potential and pollution reduction potential at a large scale (i.e. watershed) when implemented by users rather than controlled implementation strictly by researchers. Research on the evaluation of evapotranspiration (ET)-based irrigation controllers for landscapes was begun and will be continued in subsequent projects.<br /> <br /> An irrigation scheduling tool was created and made available through the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN, http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu) for citrus and urban irrigation scheduling. The citrus tool is being implemented with cooperating growers in south Florida. The urban irrigation scheduling tool is being communicated to extension audiences and plans include implanting this tool in an organized manner to measure landscape irrigation water conservation potential. <br /> <br /> In Florida landscape irrigation, an extension run time recommendation publication (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AE220) was used to set cooperating homeowner time clocks each month. Over 30 months, cumulative irrigation savings was significantly lower (by 30%) than homes without any intervention.<br /> <br /> Initial work has occurred on demonstrating soil moisture measurement with vegetable growers. Growers report value in using the soil moisture sensor readings as a tool for irrigation management. As pointed out previously, real barriers exist in implementing fully automatic irrigation control at the farm scale; however, future work will investigate this type of control.<br /> <br /> The BIS program is used somewhat in California, but it is limited to scheduling only one field at a time. Consequently, a proposal was written to work with Oregon State University to expand their irrigation management program into California.<br /> <br /> In North Dakota, the NRCS has adopted the web-based irrigation scheduling program as well as the NDSU computerized irrigation-scheduling program to support the irrigation water management portion of their Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). This is the first year for the irrigators to use the web-based program and on June 24, 2008 there were over 60 irrigators using it to schedule irrigation on 193 fields. These numbers will increase as the irrigation season in North Dakota usually starts after July 4th. <br /> <br /> In Texas, user feedback from the use of the TXHPET website has been evaluated and incorporated through new enhancements to terminology and features proposed for integration on to the TXHPET web based system. Additional user education and technical support materials will be added as needed to promote awareness and application of the features. <br /> <br /> AgriMet provides daily estimates of crop specific ET for 70 locations in Reclamations Pacific Northwest region and 21 locations in Reclamations Great Plains region in Montana. This information is used by farmers, irrigators, irrigation districts, and irrigation consultants for irrigation scheduling in the Northwest.<br /> Both regions post current weather data and crop water use information daily on websites:<br /> PN Region: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/agrimet<br /> GP Region: http://www.usbr.gov/gp/agrimet/index.cfm<br /> Both regions provide numerous responses to data requests via email and telephone. <br /> <br /> AgriMet weather data is being used by Irrisoft, Inc. to drive their smart irrigation controller technology for commercial and residential turfgrass irrigation.<br /> <br /> Reclamations AgriMet program is working with the NRCS and Oregon State University in providing near real time ET data for an online irrigation scheduling system known as OISO  Oregon Irrigation Scheduling Online. This effort is currently being expanded to the entire Northwest.<br /> <br /> Several rural agricultural newspapers publish AgriMet crop water use data during the growing season. Crop water use data is further disseminated by local contacts and working relationships with County Extension Agents, NRCS technical specialists, Soil and Water Conservation District specialists, and agricultural consultants. Bonneville Power Administration uses AgriMet ET data as a baseline for incentive payments to agricultural irrigation customers for practicing irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> 3) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information. <br /> <br /> a) Development of Quality Control procedures for weather data used for irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> AgriMet has developed a set of manual quality control procedures, both text-based and graphical, that easily identify any errors in the meteorological data used in ET computation. <br /> <br /> Quality control of weather data collected by the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) is performed first at the High Plains Climate Center in Nebraska and then is screened by NDAWN personnel.<br /> <br /> Quality control of weather data for reference ET estimation in California is managed by the California Department of Water Resources in the CIMIS program. In Florida, quality control is managed by the FAWN program. <br /> <br /> b) Development of interpolation programs to fill in missing data from climate networks. Irrigation scheduling programs will not run with any missing data. <br /> <br /> AgriMet uses meteorologically sound manual estimation procedures to completely fill in missing data.<br /> <br /> In California, the SIMETAW program for estimating irrigation water demand is being upgraded to better account for ET and rainfall variations. They are using PRISM to determine monthly temperature and precipitation data and then we use long term climate station data to estimate daily variation. From these data, a calibrated Hargreaves Samani equation is used to estimate the Penman Monteith ETo rates. This is used in conjunction with a water balance procedure to estimate effective rainfall and ET of applied water. <br /> <br /> <br />

Publications

Impact Statements

1. Peter Palmer attended the Idaho Environmental Summit, held at Boise State University during October 25-26, 2007, and distributed brochures on the AgriMet program to several hundred people in attendance. Peter Palmer made a presentation on the AgriMet program at the Idaho Water Research Symposium in Boise, Idaho on December 13, 2007 and presented a poster paper on the AgriMet program at the Western Snow Conference, Hood River, Oregon on April 16, 2008.
2. In Washington, twenty four different presentations were given in 2007 in many areas across the state on many different aspects of irrigation and water management. A website was created at http://irrigation.wsu.edu containing irrigation related calculators, tutorials, FAQs and other links. This was accessed over 14,000 times within the first 6 months. Two popular press articles were published in Master Gardener Magazine, and Potato Country.
3. In Florida, more than 12 presentations were given on irrigation management. In addition, an irrigation scheduling tool on citrus irrigation was made available at, http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/tools/irrigation/citrus/ to help proper scheduling of landscape irrigation as related to climatic demand to reduce water application and to conserve water and improve the efficacy through soil moisture-based irrigation control.
4. In California, presentations were given at the California Onion & Garlic Symposium, to State and Federal employees on the ET and Kc values for rice, and to State employees on DETAW and ACASA models for estimating ET in the Sacramento  San Joaquin River Delta. A short course on the application of the DETAW model was given to State employees. The Basic Irrigation Scheduling (BIS) program for agricultural crops and the Landscape Irrigation Management Program (LIMP) were upgraded. The programs are available at http://biomet.ucdavis.edu.
5. In North Dakota presentations included: irrigation scheduling methods at four workshops; a training session by NRCS for their field staff on the new web-based irrigation-scheduling program; presentation at the Intersectional ASABE meeting in Fargo and at the International ASABE meeting in Providence, RI.; presentation on hourly reference ET estimates for alfalfa at the EWRI/ASCE meeting in Honolulu, HI. Irrigation scheduling was the topic of several articles in Water Spouts, the NDSU Irrigation newsletter with subscriptions by over 325 irrigators via a printed version, 60 on an email list and are posted on the NDSU Extension website. An article on the new web-based irrigation-scheduling program was featured in ND Water Magazine.
6. Water use data of the cooperative ET network (PIN-Precision Irrigators Network) in the TX Winter Garden region (operated out of Texas AgriLife Research-Uvalde with Amarillo/Bushland based expertise) reduced producer irrigation applications. TXHPET data are continuing to be used by individuals and agencies, universities and industries. Over 20 CRIS projects depended on the TXHPET data. Six locations (Amarillo, Lubbock, Vernon, Uvalde, Temple and College Station-Spatial Sciences Lab), the USDA-ARS-Bushland, and West Texas A&M University at Canyon depend on TXHPET data for meteorological research, as well as crop modeling and irrigation scheduling in coursework.
7. The National Weather Service uses daily TXHPET data for its model validation studies. In continuing the Texas Water Development Board, state division managers are in the process of implementing the estimation demand methodology developed by several Texas members of this (WERA-202) project which hinges on the ET network data. Groundwater conservation districts use the NPET (TXHPET) network crop water use data as the basis in adopting new pumping and application limits in their rules and regulations.

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Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Accomplishments

Objective 1. Coordinate the standardization/documentation of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> 1) Coordinate development of a list and/or database of available crop coefficient data in the U.S., including information of the time step upon which the data are based (i.e., degree days, time, percent season, etc.)<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> " A new Excel program KcMod.xls was written to store crop coefficient information and to output the Kc curves to tables and plots. This program will serve as a basis for the WERA 202 crop coefficient compilation objective. <br /> " The Kc Testing project continued this year, and two years of data collection are now completed. This project was designed to help the State DWR to upgrade crop coefficients for water resources planning by teaching DWR employees how to measure ETc and determine crop coefficients. The project also encourages research cooperation between DWR employees and UC farm advisors.<br /> <br /> Florida:<br /> <br /> " One year of a turfgrass crop coefficient (Kc) project has been completed. Turf Kcs are being developed using mini-lysimeters for the following warm-season grasses: Floratam St. Augustine, Argentine Bahia, Tifway Bermuda, and Empire Zoysia. Results to date indicate no significant differences in non-stressed water use rates between these four grasses given equal growing conditions. Once turf Kcs are verified in a second year, recommended values will be published.<br /> " Tomato and green bell pepper crop coefficients from the literature have been fitted to irrigation water use data under regimes where plants are not stressed and no deep percolation occurs. Thus, the literature Kc values have been verified. Future work will use soil moisture measurements to calculate crop ET and further document and verify these Kc values.<br /> <br /> Kansas:<br /> <br /> No specific work on adjusting crop coefficients has been done and none is envisioned.<br /> (Continuing to use crop coefficients already in use developed based on Penman (Kimberly) equation.<br /> " Adoption of irrigation scheduling technology, including computer models, remote sensing or instrumentation.<br /> i) ET based irrigation scheduling tool, KanSched, has been adopted by USDA-NRCS for the EQIP program in Kansas.<br /> ii) 12 sessions were held to refresh and train both NRCS personnel and producers. Educational meetings numbering 9 were held to introduce ET based irrigation scheduling and services provided by the Mobile Irrigation Lab (MIL).<br /> iii) MIL webpage visitors numbered 1,176 and page views accounted to 3,440 so far.<br /> iv) None available to report on remote sensing.<br /> " Evaluation of the effectiveness of delivery methods for the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology. Where possible, working with the NRCS to provide useable ET and irrigation scheduling information to producers.<br /> i) No formal evaluation with clientele done so far. NRCS program participants and general producers are using (firm numbers are unavailable) KanSched ascertained from calls, e-mails received asking for consultation and information. Calls from crop consultants and contract researchers were received for help with the use of KanSched. E-mails are being sent to a list serve address having 20 addresses of producers, crop consultant, and banker. Southwest Kansas County agents receive ET information by e-mail.<br /> ii) ET values are posted in internet web page.<br /> <br /> Washington:<br /> <br /> " Little work has been done in Washington State on crop coefficients.<br /> <br /> 2) Work with ASCE Kc task subcommittee on the development of a procedure for standardizing crop coefficient data.<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> " As Chair of the ASCE Kc Task subcommittee and current Chair of the WERA 202, we developed the KcMod.xls program described above. We are still working on a program to estimate virtual crop ETc and to estimate crop coefficients.<br /> <br /> Texas:<br /> <br /> " Work is nearing completion on the revision to ASCE Manual No. 70, which is likely to be published in 2008 or 2009.<br /> " Terry Howell conducted comparative regression relationships between the various reference ET equations for the years of 2006 and 2007 using Bushland data. The results of that effort are summarized in the Texas Report.<br /> " Bushland crop coefficients were summarized on a day after planting scale. Future work will expand the summary into the FAO-56 formats for ASCE/EWRI reference ET for GDD and ground cover scales.<br /> " Crop coefficients derived from the large weighing lysimeters at Bushland over time have been estimated per growth stage for the multiple planting dates within the TXHPET models. Work funded through a grant from Texas Water Development Board netted data necessary to validate the multi-year corn study at the NPRF to obtain potential adjustment data of the Kcs based on actual plant stage for multiple planting dates within the TXHPET. Adjustment data have been compiled and publication is planned with linkage to the accumulated crop heat units based on the day after planting scale in the TXHPET models.<br /> " Thomas Marek, in cooperation with Dr. Terry Howell of the USDA-ARS Water Management Unit at Bushland, was involved in the design, construction, installation and instrumentation of a large weighing lysimeter for crop coefficient determination in the Arkansas River Valley region of Colorado. Initial crop establishment and growth patterns indicate more cropping time is needed to establish equilibrium soil conditions around the large lysimeter. A new reference based lysimeter (12 Mg) is currently being installed in 2008 at the research site.<br /> <br /> Objective 2. Coordinate the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology, including computer models, remote sensing or instrumentation that will help growers more efficiently apply irrigation water.<br /> <br /> <br /> 1) Coordinate evaluation of the effectiveness of delivery methods for the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology. Where possible, work with the NRCS to provide useable ET and irrigation scheduling information to producers.<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> " We received an NRCS CIG grant to expand the OSU irrigation scheduling program into California. Three Farm Advisors (Allan Fulton, Dan Munk, and Blake Sanden) are working with OSU to test the scheduling program with California growers. We have developed a subprogram to assess water stress and salinity effects on yield, and it is currently being evaluated.<br /> " We finished the project SIMETAW II, which is used to (1) estimate reference evapotranspiration in the Central Valley of California using 82 years of climate data and with the ability to simulate weather data to assess climate change effects on crop water usage. Recently, we initiated a new project CALSIMETAW to accomplish the same goals for the entire State. <br /> " The online irrigation scheduling tool developed in Oregon is being evaluated through a two-year project in Washington. It is being tried by several Washington growers and supported out of Washington State University during this time period. This has been adopted by the NRCS for the EQIP program in Washington for the evaluation period. Other more simple irrigation management tools (spreadsheet and paper-based) are under evaluation for use with Washington State.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Kansas:<br /> <br /> " The NRCS has adopted KanSched as one of the recognized irrigation scheduling tool for program participants requiring year-end report on water use and conservation achieved. No formal survey conducted to find out the types of irrigation scheduling tools that are used within the state by producers.<br /> <br /> New Mexico:<br /> <br /> " Work is being carried out to automate the SATET remote sensing program and offer it as a web service. The stand alone document is described at http://hydrology1.nmsu.edu/Lake%20evaporation/Lake%20Evaporation%20Remote%20Sensing%20Model.htm. The progress includes downloading all scenes of MOD021KM, MOD03 and MOD11_L2 data sets from 2002 to current date, covering all parts of New Mexico, California and Texas have been downloaded. The SATET model was updated to function in automated mode. All input parameters are supplied by means of a driver file, which contains a list of files to be processed by the model and all the necessary weather information and other additional input parameters. Currently the model uses MOD021KM data set to extract Modis reflectance solar bands 1, 2, 3,4,5,7 and Modis emissive bands 31 and 32 which are used to calculate Temperature, NDVI and ET for each pixel.<br /> " The data is geo corrected by using geo location fields latitude and longitude from the corresponding MOD03 dataset. Elevation data for each pixel is also extracted from MOD03 file. The elevation value is used in searching for an appropriate cold spot. The maximum elevation difference that can be there between cold spot and the point of interest can be supplied as an input parameter to the model. Cloud cover mask is extracted from MOD11_L2 data set. <br /> <br /> Texas:<br /> <br /> " The Texas AgriLife Extension Service AgriPartner program [Mr. Leon New, Mr. O.R. (Reggie) Jones (Coordinator), Dr. Brent Bean, Dr. Carl Patrick and Mr. Don Dusek] continued on-farm irrigation demonstrations in which the North Plains ET (NPET) network (part of the Texas High Plains ET network) models and irrigation scheduling data were again verified and utilized with area producers. The total number of field demonstrations was 54. A summary is provided in the Texas Report.<br /> " Part-time AgriPartner employees acquired data on the various commercial fields that tracked applied irrigation water, rainfall, soil water use, yields, and crop phenology. Overall, the NPET crop growth models performed well, with possibly the exception of peanuts. There were 36 producers that participated in the 2007 AgriPartner demonstrations. The program was officially terminated at the end of 2007, but is being considered for continuation by two of the area groundwater districts.<br /> " Thomas Marek continued to conduct work at the North Plains Research Field ancillary to commercial farm monitoring in 2007; this work involved monitoring of 2,255 acres of crops, with 11 growers participating. The percentage of full ET applied by growers ranged from 54 to 110%. A summary table is given in the Texas Report.<br /> " Texas A&M efforts continued operations and maintenance of the Texas High Plains ET network (TXHPET- http://txhighplainset.tamu.edu/). TXHPET represents the entire Texas High Plains region (and Pecos in West Texas) and operates 18 stations. During 2007, the TXHPET network disseminated nearly 300,000 pages of irrigation and/or climatic data information. A reduced number of copies of the TXHPET user manual were released in 2007 due to the previous number disseminated and online availability of the manual as a pdf file. The majority of TXHPET dissemination is now by electronic venues rather than paper distribution methods, and conversion can be attributed to the education venues by TXHPET extension personnel.<br /> <br /> 2) Coordinate the evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include conducting surveys to determine what types of irrigation scheduling tools are being used by different producers in each state.<br /> <br /> Florida:<br /> <br /> " In landscape irrigation, a two year study has been completed using soil moisture sensors and rain sensors to control irrigation on cooperating homes in Pinellas County. Soil moisture sensor irrigation controllers reduced irrigation application by 65% cumulatively over a two year period.<br /> " In another study on smart controllers, ET controllers are being evaluated on cooperating homes in Hillsborough County. Research plot results have shown that these devices can reduce irrigation 40-60% relative to typical homeowner irrigation schedules. Preliminary results on homes show a 50% reduction in irrigation relative to homeowners only being monitored.<br /> " Work is continuing demonstrating soil moisture measurement with vegetable growers. Growers report value in using the soil moisture sensor readings as a tool for irrigation management. Real barriers exist in implementing fully automatic irrigation control at the farm scale; however, future work will investigate this type of control. Research plot level studies indicate that soil moisture sensor control systems on green bell pepper and tomato has resulted in approximately 30-50% reduction in water applied compared to grower type of time based irrigation schedules. A corresponding 50% reduction in nitrate nitrogen leaching has been documented.<br /> " Both soil moisture (e.g. tensiometer controlled) and ET based control strategies are being used on tropical fruit production in South Florida. Research results have shown that water reductions as high as 90% are possible without any yield or quality reduction. Significant reductions in nutrients applied have been shown, also without reducing plant quality.<br /> <br /> Texas:<br /> <br /> " User feedback from the use of the TXHPET website has been evaluated and incorporated through new enhancements to terminology and features proposed for integration on to the TXHPET web based system. Additional user education and technical support materials will be added as needed to promote awareness and application of the features. <br /> <br /> 3) Continue to report all findings and information on the WCC 202 (WERA 202) website located at the New Mexico State University website. (See http://weather.nmsu.edu/wcc202/ .)<br /> <br /> " Note that Ted Sammis (New Mexico State University) is retiring. An alternative to using the NMSU website was discussed at the Lake Tahoe meeting.<br /> <br /> 4) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information.<br /> <br /> <br /> Objective 3. Coordinate the development of Quality Control procedures for weather data used for irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> 1) Work with WERA-102 in developing standards for QC data in all climate networks. Publish existing QC for all climate networks in each participating state.<br /> <br /> " California and New Mexico State Universities have been working on the use of remote sensing and GIS (e.g. CIMIS-GOES) to provide refined estimates of reference evapotranspiration (ETo). The projects require the interpolation of weather data between ETo stations. Because the GIS based estimates are mostly independent of the weather station measurements, the products offer a new possibility for quality control of weather data used to estimate reference evapotranspiration. <br /> <br /> 2) Coordinate the sharing of QC software developed in an individual state to be used by all states.<br /> <br /> " See item 1) above.<br /> <br /> 3) Coordinate the development of interpolation programs to fill in missing data from climate networks. Irrigation scheduling programs will not run with missing data.<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> " The remote sensing group at UCD has developed a GIS based interpolation program for reference evapotranspiration estimation. We are currently studying the possibility to use this product to quality control CIMIS ETo data in California. Also, see item 1) above.<br /> <br /> New Mexico:<br /> <br /> " Evaluated the use of the NWS forecast hourly values to conduct QC on weather station data. See ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndgd/GT.rtma/AR.conus/<br /> " To capture the forecast gridded data on 5 km grid. Also, a program python script was written to capture the NWS forecast cast for any location in the U. S. This file captures the data and calculates the reference Et. The data can be compared to the measured data to conduct QC. <br /> <br /> Educational Activities:<br /> <br /> 1) Educational sessions at meetings about different aspects of irrigation scheduling material and software.<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> YEAR MON GROUP AND LOCATION SIZE TOPIC HRS<br /> 2008 Aug DWR Training, Corning 6 Surface Renewal ET 3<br /> 2008 Nov WERA 102 Davis 20 CIMIS & ETo 1<br /> 2008 Nov WERA 102 Davis 20 Surf Ren. & ET 2<br /> 2008 Dec Alfalfa Symp. San Diego 200 Irrigation Scheduling 0.3<br /> 2009 Mar CDWR  District Staff 15 Surf. Ren. and ET 4<br /> 2009 Apr Bay Delta Office DWR, Sacramento 20 SIMETAW II 1<br /> 2009 Apr DWR Staff Sacramento 9 SIMETAW II Phase II 1<br /> 2009 Apr Spanish Minister of Agric. Davis 7 CIMIS & ET 1<br /> <br /> Florida:<br /> <br /> There were 10 different educational publications that came out in proceedings of various professional meetings and fact sheets. These are cited under Publications.<br /> <br /> Kansas:<br /> <br /> " Water related educational activities were held in 3 counties attended by 54 school going children. In addition water conservation educational sessions held during Childrens Water Festival programs.<br /> <br /> New Mexico:<br /> <br /> " Education sessions at meetings about different aspects of irrigation scheduling material and software. <br /> " Dissemination of information through newsletters, faxes, press releases, and magazines articles, etc. Water Supply Forecast of Stream Flow Volume http://virga.nmsu.edu/News/nl-climate-fall-08-dec1.pdf<br /> <br /> Texas: <br /> <br /> " Eighteen invited papers, presentations, and lectures were presented by Dana Porter. A list is given in the Texas Report. <br /> <br /> Washington:<br /> <br /> " Twenty four different presentations were given in 2007 in many areas across the state on many different aspects of irrigation and water management. Irrigation scheduling tools are currently being developed.<br /> <br /> <br /> 2) Development of effective documentation of irrigation scheduling information available through the web.<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> " A new scheduling program for alfalfa ISA.xls was developed and presented at the Alfalfa Symposium in San Diego. The program uses ETo and the climate corrected alfalfa Kc values from FAO 56 and the stress factor calculation from CROPWAT to determine schedules for up to nine alfalfa cuttings.<br /> <br /> Florida:<br /> <br /> " An urban irrigation scheduling tool has been updated and is available at, http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/tools/urban_irrigation/<br /> " A website has been developed highlighting turfgrass crop coefficients, http://irrigation.ifas.ufl.edu/turf/index.html<br /> " Multimedia presentations are available at, http://irrigation.ifas.ufl.edu/voiceppt/<br /> <br /> Texas:<br /> <br /> " Approximately 600 e-mail listserv files and TXHPET web site downloads occurred daily in 2007. This resulted in a total of over 200,000 pages of irrigation scheduling information disseminated.<br /> " <br /> Washington:<br /> <br /> " An irrigation information website was created at http://irrigation.wsu.edu. This website contains many different irrigation related calculators, tutorials, FAQs and many other web page links. This was accessed for irrigation information over 14,000 times within the first 6 months.<br /> <br /> 3) Dissemination of information through newsletters, faxes, press releases and magazine articles, etc.<br /> <br /> California:<br /> <br /> " Working with the National Weather Service (NWS), we developed a reference evapotranspiration (ETo) forecast product for northern California that is now available through the Sacramento NWS Office. We are working to expand the service to cover the State.<br /> <br /> Florida:<br /> <br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2009. Smart irrigation technologies result in water savings. Florida Irrigation Society, Pipeline Magazine, Summer 2009.<br /> <br /> Texas: <br /> <br /> " Porter, Dana. 2008. Best Management Practices to Prevent Groundwater Contamination. Extension Fact Sheet. Texas Cooperative Extension. College Station, TX. (In press.) <br /> " Boman, Randy, Dana Porter, and Jim Bordovsky. 2008. Irrigation Management Strategies for High Plains Cotton. Texas AgriLife Extension and Research Center, Lubbock. Texas. <br /> " Howell, T.A. 2008. Addressing the world water crisis. Resource 14(3):5-8.<br /> <br /> Washington:<br /> <br /> " Two different popular press articles were published on irrigation management in Master Gardener Magazine, and Potato Country.<br /> <br /> 4) Development of short course information on irrigation scheduling using climate data.<br /> <br /> Florida:<br /> <br /> A short course has been developed highlighting automated irrigation control technologies. This course is given routinely to stakeholders such as developers, builders, irrigation contractors, decision makers, government personnel, and homeowners. The following workshops have been given highlighting various irrigation scheduling methods, including automated irrigation controls:<br /> <br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. UF/IFAS soil moisture sensor irrigation controller research results. Presentation at the Miami-Dade Soil Moisture Sensor Training Session, Jan 24. Homestead, FL. (25 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Results of UF soil moisture sensor testing. Presentation at Osceola County Landscape Irrigation Workshop, Mar 31, Kissimmee, FL. (85 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Results of UF soil moisture sensor controller testing. Volusia County Landscape Irrigation Workshop: New Technologies and Certification Programs. DeLand, FL, Aug 28. (60 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Results of UF soil moisture sensor controller testing. St. Johns County Landscape Irrigation Workshop: New Technologies and Certification Programs. St. Augustine, FL, Sept 30. (50 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Irrigation and Landscape Opportunities. Florida Section American Water Works Association, Dollars and Sense in Water Efficiency  A Symposium. Dec 3, Orlando, FL. (25 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Irrigation Technology: How it relates to water use in Florida. Water Resources and the Future of Florida Landscapes, Osceola County Extension, Oct 23, Kissimmee, FL. (30 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. SMART Irrigation Controls: What Does the Future Hold? 14th Annual Gulf Coast Turfgrass Expo & Field Day, June 18, Jay, FL. (250 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D., K.L. Morgan, and L. Zotarelli. 2008. Irrigation scheduling methods and tools: Enhancing efficiency of water and fertilizer delivery. IFAS Best Management Practice workshop, Apopka, FL (50 attendees).<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Water conservation as an alternative water supply. University of Florida Water Institute Symposium, Sustainable Water Resources, Florida Challenges, Global Solutions, Feb 28, Gainesville, FL. (50 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Soil moisture sensors and rain sensors. AWWA Sustainable Water Sources, Feb 13, Reno, NV. (50 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Irrigation auditing techniques and technologies. AWWA Sustainable Water Sources, Feb 13, Reno, NV. (50 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Improving irrigation management in golf. Presentation at FTGA/EGCSA Southwest Florida Turf Conference, Jan 10. Ft. Myers, FL. (120 attendees)<br /> " Dukes, M.D. 2008. Taking control of landscape irrigation through smart control systems. Presentation at FTGA/EGCSA Southwest Florida Turf Conference, Jan 10. Ft. Myers, FL. (35 attendees)<br /> <br /> Texas:<br /> <br /> " Porter, Dana. 2008. Irrigation Training Program curriculum, manual and irrigation workshop series. Reference notebooks were developed for a statewide irrigation education program targeting progressive agricultural producers, county educators, crop consultants, irrigation professionals, technical support providers, water resources planners and similarly interested audiences. <br /> " Porter, Dana and Leon New. 2007. Texas AgriLife Extension Serive (formerly Texas Cooperative Extension) North Region Water Conservation and Irrigation Training. Reference notebook developed for North Region TCE-CEA training events held August 14, 2007 (Lubbock) and August 21, 2007 (Amarillo). <br /> <br />

Publications

Impact Statements

1. " Presentations have been given to the Water Conservation division of the American Water Works Association two times, to the Florida Turfgrass Association membership on several occasions, to a number of local groups and to the Southwest Florida Water Management District on the evaluation of Smart Irrigation technologies. (Florida)
2. " Research at the plot scale has shown potential irrigation water savings of 30% using UF/IFAS irrigation time clock recommendations with an expanding disk rain sensor during rainy periods vs. 15% during dry periods. Similarly, Smart Controllers have shown savings potential of 70-90% during normal rainfall periods on research plots and up to 40% during dry weather without compromising turfgrass quality. Studies on cooperating homes indicate 65% cumulative irrigation savings over two years. (Florida)
3. " As a result of this research and awareness and education efforts detailed here, Manatee County offers rebates on rain sensors to advanced SMS and ET irrigation controllers. Pasco County has developed an irrigation permit whereby if a soil moisture sensor is used for irrigation control on a new home, the landscape ordinance mandating that only 50% of the landscape be irrigated is waived. Currently, the Lake Jovita development is taking advantage of this new permit on all new construction. (Florida)
4. " The Florida Water Star program is allowing substantial credits in their certification points system for SMS or ET irrigation controllers. The City of Stuart and Toho Water Authority are offering rebate programs for SMS irrigation controllers. The Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department is offering rebates on SMS irrigation controllers for homeowners associations. Lakewood Ranch community is conducting a pilot program with 400 SMS controllers being installed and one of the largest communities in Florida, The Villages, is now installing SMS controllers on new homes. (Florida)
5. " In 2008, it is estimated that 1,749 group learning participants were impacted, of which 252 were subjected to extension education efforts and tested for knowledge gain (70% of the participants had some knowledge gain in irrigation efficiency, scheduling and soil moisture sensors). A group of 29 irrigation contractors were surveyed/tested before and after a training event and 20% reported a behavioral change 30 days after the training event by increasing the use of SMS irrigation controllers. (Florida)
6. " From 2000-2005, 953,739 new homes were built in Florida, more than any other state in the U.S. In-ground irrigation is standard in nearly all new home construction. As of 2005, there were 8,256,847 housing units in the state, the third most in the U.S. In 2000, approximately 46% were single family detached. If this percentage held relatively constant then as of 2005 there are 3,798,149 single family detached homes in the state with 438,719 new units constructed from 2000 to 2005. (Florida)
7. " In earlier research, we found that homeowners in Central Florida irrigated on average 2-3 times a conservative estimate of plant needs, which was 5.9 inches per month. If all new homes had one of these types of irrigation control ranging from a rain sensor to a Smart Controller reduction in water use could range from 15% (96,000 gal/yr) to as high as 70% (448,000 gal/yr) per home. If this were extended to all new home construction 2000-2005, savings would range 42 billion gal/yr to 196 billion gal/yr ranging from a low tech control system to a more advanced type of controller. (Florida)
8. " The impact that the underlying lysimeter program and subsequent crop ET estimates of Bushland and Uvalde have had on Texas irrigation water use demand models and water planning efforts continue to be outstanding. Water use data of the cooperative ET network (PIN-Precision Irrigators Network) in the TX Winter Garden region (operated out of Texas AgriLife Research-Uvalde with Amarillo/Bushland based expertise) continue to have significant impacts in regards to improved and reduced regional producer irrigation applications. (Texas)
9. " TXHPET data are continuing to be used by individuals and agencies, universities and industries. In 2007, over 20 CRIS projects depended on the TXHPET data. Texas AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service at 6 locations (Amarillo, Lubbock, Vernon, Uvalde, Temple and College Station-Spatial Sciences Lab), the USDA-ARS-Bushland, West Texas A&M University at Canyon and the National Weather Service depend on TXHPET data for meteorological inputs, crop modeling and irrigation scheduling in coursework and modeling studies. (Texas)
10. " The Texas Water Development Board and state division managers are in the process of using demand methodology developed by several Texas members of this WERA-202 based on the ET network data. Updated estimates of regional irrigation demand were conducted in 2007 using the latest FSA acreage and TXHPET model data. The estimates are to be used in the regional Ogallala groundwater availability model. Groundwater conservation districts continue to use the NPET (TXHPET) network crop water use data for adopting new pumping and application limits in their rules and regulations. (Texas)

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Report Information

Participants

Meeting participants:

1. S. Irmak (Nebraska)
2. R. Snyder (California)
3. T. Marek (Texas)
4. D. Porter (Texas)
5. T. Scherer (N. Dakota)
6. B. Khalid (California)
7. S. Staggenborg (Kansas)
8. M. Alam (Kansas)
9. R. Narayanan (Nevada)
10. E. Martin (Arizona)
11. P. Palmer (Idaho)
12. J. Henggeler (Missouri)
13. N. Israelsen (Utah)
14. P. Robinson (Oregon)

Brief Summary of Minutes

Irmak opened the meeting at 8:40 AM and welcomed all participants to Lincoln. Narayanan also welcomed the participants and highlighted the importance of the regional committee and talked briefly about past accomplishments.

The minutes from last years meeting in Lake Tahoe was approved. Membership is in a good shape.

The first discussion was on the comments received from the reviewers on the new proposal outline that was submitted for WERA 2941. Reviewers made several suggestions and recommended to create subcommittees for each objective. Martin, Alam, and Irmak worked on the revisions of the new project outline and submitted it to Narayanan at the end of the committee meeting. Inputs from various committee members were incorporated into the revised proposal.

State reports: Presentations that outlined progress and accomplishments by each state were made. Snyder talked about reference and actual evapotranspiration (ET) for orchards, rice, etc. and talked about ET interactions with surface and microclimate. CIMIS is a good example of adoption of weather data by growers to make irrigation management decisions. In 1986, only 60 people used CIMIS and by 2010 about 30% of growers are using the network. Marek gave an update on Texas weather and ET network and talked about current as well as future research needs, especially for ET and crop physiological dynamics for new drought-tolerant (or water-optimized) crops. Scherer gave an update on NDAWN and ET-related research in N. Dakota. Staggenborg updated the committee about weather network and research progress in Kansas. Martin talked about irrigation management, AZMET, and other research and educational programs in Arizona. Palmer gave a presentation on weather data quality and integrity analyses. Henggeler presented irrigation scheduling, weather data, and crop coefficients in Missouri. Robinson gave an update on current and future NRCS programs related to irrigation management. Irmak presented highlights of research and educational programs related to agricultural water management and evapotranspiration in Nebraska.

The committee members participated in a field tour to the South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center, Nebraska and other research sites near Geneva.

Irmak will send a draft of meeting minutes, participants list, state reports, and a summary of accomplishments and impact to Narayanan.

The new Chair is Troy Peters and the next meeting will be held in Washington State. Joe Henggeler was elected as the new secretary.

Meeting adjourned at 1:15 PM

Respectfully submitted.

Suat Irmak

Accomplishments

Objective 1. Coordinate the standardization/documentation of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> 1) Coordinate development of a list and/or database of available crop coefficient data in the U.S., including information of the time step upon which the data are based (i.e., degree days, time, percent season, etc.)<br /> <br /> The Excel program KcMod.xls, which stores crop coefficient information and outputs Kc curves to tables and plots was refined. We are still conducting a literature review on crop coefficients. Eventually, this program and the data will be placed on the WERA 202 web page. <br /> <br /> 2) Work with ASCE Kc task subcommittee on the development of a procedure for standardizing crop coefficient data.<br /> <br /> As Chair of the ASCE Kc Task subcommittee and current Chair of the WERA 202, we developed the KcMod.xls program described above. We are still working on a program to estimate virtual crop ETc and to estimate crop coefficients.<br /> <br /> 3) Coordinate development of a list and/or database of available crop coefficient data in the U.S., including information of the time step upon which the data are based (i.e., degree days, time, percent season, etc.)<br /> <br /> The TXHPET network currently has the following crop coefficients values associated with both hourly and daily ET data disseminated on a daily basis. <br /> <br /> 4) Work with ASCE Kc task subcommittee on the development of a procedure for standardizing crop coefficient data.<br /> <br /> Thomas Marek has completed involvement with the Colorado Division of Water Resources State Engineers Office regarding the design, construction, installation and instrumentation of a large weighing lysimeter for crop coefficient determination in the Arkansas River Valley (ARV) region of Colorado. Current crop growth patterns indicate the large lysimeter is reaching stable soil conditions. A newly design reference based lysimeter (12 Mg) has been installed at the AVR research site and has resulted in exceptional performance. It is currently planted to wheat for stabilization purposes.<br /> <br /> 5) Coordinate development of a list and/or database of available crop coefficient data in the U.S., including information of the time step upon which the data are based (i.e., degree days, time, percent season, etc.)<br /> <br /> Work continues on the AZSCHED(Arizona Irrigation Scheduling) program. Funding is presently being sought to alter the program to allow for the inclusion of the ASCE Standardize equation and rework the crop coefficient data accordingly. Presently, the program uses a Modified Penman equation. Work also continues on the development of AZSCHED V2, which has been modified to all for the inclusion of tree crops. Using crop coefficient data from New Mexico and other sources, the program utilizes the Effective Canopy Cover (ECC) presented by Wang and Sammis. AZSCHED V2 also gives information in terms of gallons per tree. <br /> <br /> 6) Coordinate development of a list and/or database of available crop coefficient data in the U.S., including information of the time step upon which the data are based (i.e., degree days, time, percent season, etc.)<br /> <br /> The High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) continues to provide weather data, crop coefficients, and evapotranspiration (ET) data to farmers to be used for irrigation management. Presently, the HPRCC uses modified Penman equation to compute reference ET on an hourly and daily basis. Work continues to switch to ASCE standardized Penman-Monteith equation.<br /> <br /> <br /> Objective 2. Coordinate the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology, including computer models, remote sensing or instrumentation that will help growers more efficiently apply irrigation water.<br /> <br /> 1) Coordinate evaluation of the effectiveness of delivery methods for the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology. Where possible, work with the NRCS to provide useable ET and irrigation scheduling information to producers.<br /> <br /> We are still working on a project CALSIMETAW to accomplish estimate crop water needs over the entire State of California. The project ends in December 2010, and we should have a huge database of crop and soil information in addition to climate data for assessing crop water requirements. The CALSIMETAW software will compute historical demand, current evaporative demand using the CIMIS-GOES program for a spatial estimate of ETo, and it will also allow for the input of forecast ETo from the National Weather Service. This program will be useful for water demand planning but also for managing current and future water supplies. <br /> <br /> Because of budget constraints, the State funded Kc Testing project ended in 2009. However, the field equipment are still being used to measure crop ET and to determine crop coefficients. We have developed an extensive database on the ET of almond orchards that we will finish in the 2010 season. This fall, we will write up a new publication of ET and water management for almonds. <br /> <br /> 2) Evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include any information collected to determine the types of irrigation scheduling tools used by growers.<br /> <br /> We continue to work on an NRCS CIG grant to work with Oregon State University to expand the OSU irrigation scheduling program into California. Three Farm Advisors (Allan Fulton, Dan Munk, and Blake Sanden) are working with OSU to test the scheduling program with California growers. We have developed a subprogram to assess water stress and salinity effects on yield. We recently found a source of funding to begin testing the stress and salinity program.<br /> <br /> 3) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information.<br /> <br /> a) Development of Quality Control procedures for weather data used for irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> The California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) has an extensive quality control program, and the guidelines are available on the CIMIS webpage.<br /> <br /> b) Development of interpolation programs to fill in missing data from climate networks. Irrigation scheduling programs will not run with any missing data.<br /> <br /> The mangers of CIMIS in California are investigating the use of CIMIS-GOES as a tool for interpolation between stations and to estimate missing data. <br /> <br /> 4) Coordinate evaluation of the effectiveness of delivery methods for the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology. Where possible, work with the NRCS to provide useable ET and irrigation scheduling information to producers.<br /> <br /> Thomas Marek, Dana Porter and Nicholas Kenny continued to conduct grower ET model validation work near the North Plains Research Field in 2009. The assessment of producer utilization of irrigation scheduling in production practice from monitored data on a total of over 20,000 acres has indicated fewer producers utilizing ET based data, but effective acreage has increased due to use by larger producers. The data also continues to reflect that these irrigated producers are using the groundwater resource at a level below that required for maximum yield production. <br /> <br /> Texas AgriLife and USDA-ARS efforts continued operations of the Texas High Plains ET network (TXHPET- http://txhighplainset.tamu.edu/) in 2009-2010. TXHPET represents the entire Texas High Plains region (and Pecos area in Far West Texas) and currently operates 17 stations. <br /> <br /> 5) Coordinate the evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include conducting surveys to determine what types of irrigation scheduling tools are being used by different producers in each state.<br /> <br /> User utilization of the TXHPET website continued to increase slightly due to extension support as reflected in the listserv database. Delivery of grant funded enhancement tools to the TXHPET web based system have been postponed in 2009 due to programming personnel recruiting and retention issues. Additional ET and water management educational and technical support materials are also being developed to promote awareness and application. <br /> <br /> 6) Continue to report all findings and information on the WCC 202 (WERA 202) website located at the New Mexico State University website. (See http://weather.nmsu.edu/wcc202/ .)<br /> <br /> 7) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information.<br /> <br /> A statewide assessment of Evapotranspiration networks is currently underway and should be completed within the next 6 months. The assessment will include identification and evaluation of agricultural and non-agricultural based Texas ET networks; equipment, data quality, operations and management are being assessed. <br /> <br /> 8) Coordinate evaluation of the effectiveness of delivery methods for the adoption of irrigation scheduling technology. Where possible, work with the NRCS to provide useable ET and irrigation scheduling information to producers.<br /> We have worked closely with the Arizona NRCS and attempted to get the use of AZSCHED listed as an acceptable EQIP cost share. This may help increase the use of AZSCHED in the state. To date, this practice has not been listed on the EQIP list for Arizona.<br /> <br /> 9) Coordinate the evaluation of the effectiveness of irrigation scheduling tools. This will include conducting surveys to determine what types of irrigation scheduling tools are being used by different producers in each state.<br /> <br /> 10) Continue to report all findings and information on the WCC 202 (WERA 202) website located at the New Mexico State University website. (See http://weather.nmsu.edu/wcc202/ .)<br /> <br /> 11) Coordinate with the irrigation industry group (The Irrigation Association) on updating their database on existing agricultural weather networks in the US, their websites, weather data provided (present and historical) and irrigation scheduling information.<br /> With increasing pressure on availability of water resources, increase in energy costs, and water allocations in various parts of the state, the NAWMDN was formed to establish an effective partnership between growers, crop consultants, Natural Resources Districts (NRDs), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), irrigation districts, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension to work together to achieve a common goal of increasing crop water use efficiency and conserve water and energy resources in agriculture. The primary goal of the Network is to enable transfer of high quality research-based information to Nebraskans through a robust and extensive series of demonstration projects established in farmers fields and foster adoption of new irrigation management technologies and methods that increase irrigation efficiency and reduce energy consumption. The demonstration projects are supported by the scientifically-based field research and evaluation projects conducted at the Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln South Central Agricultural Laboratory (SCAL) near Clay Center, Nebraska. <br /> As of May 2010, the number of active growers who joined the Network has increased to more than 400. Due to the information and strategies taught in the Network, participants are changing their behavior in terms of how they manage irrigations and Network is having significant impacts in terms of conserving water and energy resources statewide. The following sections provide a brief description of the Networks impacts and summarize the feedback received from our partners. <br /> In 2006, Extension Educators sent out a total of 40 surveys with similar questions and the return rate was 75%. Most cooperators were from the Upper Big Blue NRD and a few from the Little Blue NRD. Of those responding, 25 (83.3%) were producers with 5 (16.7%) crop consultants. <br /> In the fall of 2007 Extension Educators sent surveys to 89 producers actively involved in the Network. Fifty surveys were completed and returned for a return rate of 56%. Twenty nine cooperators (58%) were from the Upper Big Blue NRD with nineteen cooperators (38%) from the Little Blue NRD. Of those responding, forty five (90%) were producers with five (10%) crop consultants/other. <br /> In 2006, the survey participants represented about 60,000 ac of croplands. The water saving that was reported by the network participants ranged from 1.0 to 3.5 for corn and soybeans with an average of 1.7 for both crops. With the diesel fuel prices in 2006, the water saving range of 1.0 and 3.5 is associated with a dollar saving of $10.00/acre and $33.00/acre, respectively, due to reduced irrigation. The average water saving of 1.7 is associated with a $16.00/acre of net benefit to the growers. <br /> Producers were asked to estimate their water savings for corn and soybeans in each year. In 2007, estimated water savings for corn ranged from 0 to 7.5 with an average of 2.0 while soybean water savings ranged from 0 to 5.0 with an average of 2.1. With the diesel fuel prices in 2007, the water savings of 2.6 and 2.1 that was achieved with the NAWMDN are associated with average savings of $24.00/ac and $19.40/ac, respectively. <br /> More than 200 surveys were sent out in 2008 and 116 surveys (58%) were returned and 12 of the 23 NRDs and a total of 281,000 ac of croplands were represented in the Network. With 2008 diesel fuel prices, the water conservation was an equivalent of $2,814,000 and $2,270,000 for maize and soybean, respectively, in energy costs saved. A total of 320 surveys were sent out in 2009 and 142 were returned (44% return rate). An average of 2 water saving is associated with 10.00/ac for corn and soybean.<br /> In multiple surveys, when asked Did using the equipment or the NAWMDN information influence you on the amount of irrigation water to applied?, almost 100% of those that responded indicated YES! When asked What did you like best about the NAWMDN?, representative comments included: <br /> " Hands on help on understanding the use of sensors and ETgage. <br /> " Witnessing first hand that the technology works and that we saw a significant water savings.<br /> " Extension & NRD personnel are very helpful.<br /> " This program saves water and energy without compromising yield! Great leadership by UNL Extension and the NRD!<br /> " This was my first year and I liked all the support and guidance I received from your staff. There were VERY helpful in helping me understand how to use my equipment.<br /> " Network provides tools and resources to improve irrigation scheduling and saves water and pumping costs while maintaining crop fields.<br /> " UNL Extension & NRD staff have been very helpful in helping me gain confidence in the technology.<br /> " It gave me more education and information than I could have gotten anywhere else - hands on.<br /> In 2005, Suat Irmak, Jennifer Rees, Gary Zoubek, and Brandy Van DeWalle and the Upper Big Blue NRD (UBBNRD) developed a partnership to install ETgages and Watermark sensors in producers fields to teach producers strategies for water and energy conservation. Due to the success of the Network, the UBBNRD cost shared with producers and consultants for the equipment in 2006. This became the pattern each successive year as more partners joined with equipment cost-share coming from the local NRDs. A grant was obtained from USDA-NRCS to allow for expansion of the Network statewide. <br /> Two primary tools we adopted initially in the Network are ETgages and Watermark sensors. The ETgage is used to estimate crop water use from reference evapotranspiration and crop coefficient information. The Watermark sensors are used to monitor available water in the crop root zone over time. The Network participants learn about how to utilize these tools to make better-informed decisions in their irrigation management operations. In addition to the demonstration projects, the information is shared and delivered to Network participants and others through field days, seminars, workshops, and outreach publications, media reports, etc. More detailed information on the Network goals and objectives and progress can be found at: http://water.unl.edu/cropswater/nawmdn.<br /> Objective 3. Coordinate the development of Quality Control procedures for weather data used for irrigation scheduling.<br /> <br /> 1) Work with WRC-102 in developing standards for QC data in all climate networks. Publish existing QC for all climate networks in each participating state.<br /> <br /> The statewide Texas AgriLife Research and USDA-ARS cooperative ET Network assessment project will include assessment and recommendations for QA/QC of meteorological data.<br /> <br /> 2) Coordinate the sharing of QC software developed in an individual state to be used by all states.<br /> <br /> The aforementioned awarded grant with the Texas Water Development Board is currently addressing this issue and should be completed within 10 months for application with national society (ASABE, ASCE-EWRI) needs and objectives.<br /> <br /> 3) Coordinate the development of interpolation programs to fill in missing data from climate networks. Irrigation scheduling programs will not run with missing data.<br /> <br /> 4) Work with WRC-102 in developing standards for QC data in all climate networks. Publish existing QC for all climate networks in each participating state.<br /> <br /> 5) Coordinate the sharing of QC software developed in an individual state to be used by all states.<br /> <br /> 6) Coordinate the development of interpolation programs to fill in missing data from climate networks. Irrigation scheduling programs will not run with missing data.<br /> <br /> AZSCHED currently uses AZMET (Arizona Meteorological Network) data. AZMET contains data using the ASCE Standardized equation. In its present form, AZSCHED uses historical data for days that are missing real-time weather data. The faculty in charge of AZSCHED and AZMET are currently working to standardize the ET method for both applications.<br /> <br /> Climate data quality and integrity analyses are done by the HPRCC internally.<br /> <br /> Educational Activities<br /> <br /> 1) Educational sessions at meetings about different aspects of irrigation scheduling material and software.<br /> <br /> Special reports and bulletins<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2009. Subsurface Drip Irrigation Field Day. FOCUS on Entomology, (Weekly electronic newsletter), Volume 48, Number 13. 21 August 2009. Available online at: http://agfax.com/updates/tx/2009/focussp/0821.pdf<br /> <br /> Invited papers, presentations, and lectures <br /> <br /> 2009. Howell, T.A., S.R. Evett, S.A. O'Shaughnessy, P.D. Colaizzi, and P.D. Gowda. Advanced Irrigation Engineering: Precision and Precise. Pp. 353-366 in A. Shaviv, D. Broday, S. Cohen, A. Furman, and R. Kanwar (eds.). Crop Production in the 21st Century: Global Climate Change, Environmental Risks and Water Scarcity. Proc. The Dahlia Greidinger International Symp., Haifa, Israel. 2-5 March 2009.<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2009. Water Conservation in Agriculture. Texas Water Development Board Major Rivers Program teacher training program at the Region 16 Educational Service Center, Lubbock. TX.<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2010. Irrigation Management in an Integrated Production System. Annual Meeting of the High Plains Association of Crop Consultants. Lubbock, TX. 03/01/10.<br /> <br /> 2009. Colaizzi, P.D., Kustas, W.P., Evett, S.R., Howell, T.A., Gowda, P. 2009. Daily evapotranspiration estimates by scaling instantaneous latent heat flux derived from a two-source model [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America 2009 Annual Meeting Abstracts, November 1-5, 2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2009 CDROM.<br /> <br /> 2009. Colaizzi, P.D., Kustas, W.P., Evett, S.R., Howell, T.A. 2009. A dual-temperature-difference approach to estimate daytime sensible and latent heat fluxes under advective conditions during BEAREX08 [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America 2009 Annual Meeting Abstracts, November 1-5, 2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2009 CDROM.<br /> <br /> 2009. Evett, S.R., Kustas, W.P., Gowda, P. 2009. Overview of BEAREX08, A remote sensing field experiment on ET at field, multi-field and regional scales using measurements and models [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America 2009 Annual Meeting Abstracts, November 1-5, 2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2009 CDROM.<br /> <br /> 2009. Gowda, P., Chavez, J.L., Colaizzi, P.D., Howell, T.A. 2009. Remote sensing for crop water use management: Present status and challenges [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America 2009 Annual Meeting Abstracts, November 1-5, 2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2009 CD ROM.<br /> <br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Use of Irrigation Scheduling Program for water conservation in the U.S. Southwest. Presented at the University of Basilicata. Potenza, Italy. 2/26/09.<br /> <br /> Media Appearances<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2009. Late season irrigation management for cotton. Southwest Farm Press. August 10, 2009. Accessed Monday, 08/10/09 at: http://southwestfarmpress.com/cotton/water-management-0810/index.html<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2009. SDI field day slated Aug. 25. Southwest Farm Press. August 18, 2009. Accessed Monday, 08/18/09 at: http://southwestfarmpress.com/irrigation/subsurface-drip-irrigation-0818/.<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2009. KFYO Radio with Jim Stewart. August 10, 2009.Live talk radio interview during the noon ag program with Jim Stewart. <br /> <br /> <br /> Presentations at meetings <br /> <br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Irrigation Management in Arizona. Presented to the Wyoming Growers Association. Maricopa Agricultural Center. Maricopa, AZ. 1/6/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Gravity Drip Irrigation Systems. Presented at the North Leupp Family Farms 2009 Harvest Festival. Leupp, AZ. 09/19.09<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Irrigation Management in Arizona. Presented to Arizona State University Graduate Class on Sustainability. Tempe, AZ. 10/16/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Irrigation management around the house. Presented at the Maricopa Agricultural Center Farm Day. Maricopa, AZ. 10/24/09.<br /> <br /> Presentations at Extension meetings <br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2010. Water Conservation. 2010 Terry County Drip Irrigation Workshop. Brownfield, TX. 01/19/10. <br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2010. Irrigation Management in an Integrated Production System. Llano Estacado Cotton Conference. Muleshoe, TX. 01/21/10.<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2010. Efficient Irrigation Management for Lawns and Landscapes. South Plains Master Gardeners, Lubbock TX. 02/16/10.<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2010. Irrigation Management for Texas High Plains Peanut Production. West Texas Peanut Production Workshop. Brownfield, TX. 03/02/10.<br /> <br /> Porter, Dana. 2010. Pre-Season and Early Season Irrigation and Soil Moisture Management. Crosby County Pre-Season Irrigation Meeting, Ralls, TX. 05/05/10.<br /> <br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. AZSCHED  Arizona Irrigation Scheduling. Presented Water Conservation Workshop, Peach Springs, AZ. 3/18/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Drip irrigation and water conservation. Presented at Water Conservation Meeting for Small Farms and Kitchen Gardens. Ft. Defiance, AZ. 4/27/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Drip irrigation and water conservation. Presented at Water Conservation Meeting for Small Farms and Kitchen Gardens. Pinon, AZ. 4/28/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Drip irrigation and water conservation. Presented at Water Conservation Meeting for Small Farms and Kitchen Gardens. Leupp, AZ. 4/27/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. AZSCHED  Arizona Irrigation Scheduling. Presented Crop Management meeting, Parker, AZ. 12/03/09.<br /> Martin, E. C. 2009. Drip irrigation and water conservation. Presented at Water Conservation Meeting for Small Farms and Kitchen Gardens. Yuma, AZ. 12/9/09.<br /> <br /> Workshops<br /> <br /> Beltwide Cotton Conference Irrigation Workshop, New Orleans, LA, January 5, 2010. Dana Porter, Coordinator. Concurrent sessions addressed Irrigation Best Management and Advanced Irrigation Technologies. <br /> <br /> USDA-ARS Ogallala Aquifer Initiative SDI Field Days, Colby, KS and Halfway, TX, August 4 and August 25, respectively. USDA-ARS Ogallala Aquifer Initiative funded collaboration with Kansas State University and USDA-ARS at Bushland. Dana Porter and Freddie Lamm, coordinators.<br /> <br /> Texas AgriLife Extension Service North Region Agent Training Irrigation Workshop, Lubbock, TX, August 13, 2009. Professional development training for county extension agents in the North Region (Districts 1, 2 and 3), Dana Porter, Coordinator and instructor and Nich Kenny, instructor.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. August 18, 2009. Subsurface Drip Irrigation Fundamentals. UNL South Central Agricultural Laboratory field day. Clay Center, NE. 119 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. August 18, 2009. Water management basics with subsurface drip irrigation. UNL South Central Agricultural Laboratory Subsurface Drip Irrigation Field Day. Clay Center, NE. 119 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. September 22, 2009. Crop water stress index (CWSI) for irrigation management. Upper Big Blue NRD-UNL Extension Workshop. York, NE. 17 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. November 16, 2009. Update on Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN), York, NE, 18 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 4, 2010. Measurement of evapotranspiration for various vegetation surfaces: Implications for developing integrated water management plans by Natural Resources Districts. Grand Island, NE. 18 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 5, 2010. Water management strategies in NAWMDN. Crop Protection Clinic. Hastings, NE. 60 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 5, 2010. Measurement of evapotranspiration, plant physiology, soil temperature, and other surface energy fluxes in relation to tillage practices. Crop Protection Clinic. Hastings, NE. 65 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 13, 2010. Comparison of evapotranspiration, yield, and plant physiology under no-till and disk-till practices. Crop Protection Clinic. Hastings, NE. 60 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 13, 2010. Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Demonstration Network: Update and Future Plans. Crop Protection Clinic. Hastings, NE. 70 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 19, 2010. Evapotranspiration measurement for various vegetation surfaces in Central Platte Valley. Ag. Update Extension Program, Central City, NE. 75 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January 19, 2010. Large scale implementation of irrigation management strategies for increasing water use efficiency of corn. Ag. Update Extension Program, Central City, NE. 75 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January, 27, 2010. Evapotranspiration, microclimate and plant physiology interactions for different tillage practices. 2010 Annual NEATA (Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association) conference and Trade Show. Grand Island, NE. 40 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. January, 27, 2010. Sensor-based irrigation management. 2010 Annual NEATA (Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association) conference and Trade Show. Grand Island, NE. 40 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. February 16, 2010. Evapotranspiration for tilled and untilled fields an implications for irrigation management. Holdrege No-Till Conference. Holdrege, NE. 200 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. February 23, 2010. Evapotranspiration and plant physiology relationships for three invasive species in the Platte River Valey. Central Plains Irrigation Conference, Kearney, NE. 175 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. February 24, 2010. Remote sensing/satellite estimation of evapotranspiration for invasive species in the North Platte River in Morrill and Scottsbluff Counties in Nebraska. Central Plains Irrigation Conference, Kearney, NE. 175 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. March 10, 2010. Management of subsurface drip irrigation for corn and soybean production. Grand Island, NE. 52 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. March 17, 2010. Large scale implementation of research-based irrigation management tools/strategies for maize. Hamilton County NAWMDN program. Aurora, NE. 46 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. March 19, 2010. Large sacel implementation of irrigation management tools for corn and soybean production. Producer Workshop. York, NE. 40 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. March 19, 2010. Update on Nebraska Agricultural Water management Demonstration Network. York, NE. 40 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak S. March 25, 2010. Nebraska Water and Energy Flux Measurement, Modeling and Research Network (NEBFLUX). Grand Island, NE. 55 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. March 30, 2010. Research and extension projects update. Clay Center, NE. 17 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. May 4, 2010. Research and educational programs related to agricultural water management: Highlights from Nebraska. Second Annual UNL Water for Food Conference. Lincoln, NE. 320 people.<br /> <br /> Irmak, S. May 13, 2010. Evapotranspiration measurement network. UNL Road Scholar Tour. Central City, NE. 35 people. <br /> <br /> Irmak, S. June 15, 2010. Understanding ET: Implications for water management. DNR Modeling Seminar Series. Lincoln, NE, 40 people.<br /> <br /> 2) Development of effective documentation of irrigation scheduling information available through the web.<br /> <br /> ASCHED program is available at http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/irrigation/azsched/azsched.html for free download. In 2009, over 150 downloads were recorded. Since its release in 2004, over 700 copies have been downloaded.<br /> <br /> Additionally, a program called Drip System Flow Conversion Program (DripCon) is available at http://ag.arizona.edu/crops/irrigation/azsched/drip.html. The program allows growers who are more comfortable working in inches of water to better schedule their irrigation applications for drip irrigation systems. Given the tape geometry and flow rate, growers can get estimates of the amount of time a drip systems would need to run in order to develop a set amount (in inches) of water. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />

Publications

Impact Statements

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