Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Some of members are not on the current list, Jim Jacobs will straighten this out. Joe Henggeler will send Jim the updated list. The announcement e-mail list is still very big; it needs to be parsed down. Joe Henggeler will do this.

The procedure to get on the WCC-202 list is to complete the Appendix E electronically through the National Information Management and Support System (NIMSS) at http://www.lgu.umd.edu/menu.cfm . Check with personnel at your Ag Experiment Station office for procedures and authorization. If you are a researcher, you will be familiar with the lingo. If you‘re not a researcher, Jim Jacobs‘s secretary Kathleen (KathBert@uwyo.edu) will help with the CRIS codes. A copy will automatically be e-mailed to Jim via NIMSS. Congratulations, now you are a member of WCC-202!

Ted Sammis will continue to use the NMSU website for the WCC-202 tools and activities . The state reports are to be sent electronically to Jim Jacobs (copy to Ted Sammis). Jim Jacobs will compile and send on report to NIMSS http://www.lgu.umd.edu. Report should be briefdeal with the accomplishments, publications, and impact. The minutes of the WCC meetings must include a list of participants and official actions to take place. All members, if they have not yet done so, will send Jim Jacobs a list of accomplishments and publications for 2001.

Objective 1 (Coordinate the development of delivery methods for the dissemination of climate based irrigation scheduling). Establish a committee to evaluate what is the best scheduling dissemination method to use.
A questionnaire should be developed and go to farmers and consultants and other users. The questionnaire should be brief, be kept to one page or even a 3X5 card. Jim Jacobs will ask Tom Marek to be on this committee. Committee will include: Ted Sammis, Tom Spofford, Mahbub Alam, and Tom Marek. Can we get info from the USDA Ag Statistics 5-year irrigation survey? Ed Martin will interact with the USDA in this regard. Ed Martin will ask Four-Corners group what sort of tools do they want to view to help learn. Did the Las Cruces meeting on irrigation scheduling post the talks on the web? Ted Sammis will check to see if the talks are on line.

Objective 2 (Coordinate the identification of existing climate-based irrigation scheduling methods or tools). All members of the committee are asked to provide information regarding their states method of calculating ET. Data needed are (1) methodology used and (2) graphical comparison of the results (using actual daily weather from their state) to the standardized Penman-Monteith method. The comparison should include pan data, if available. The pan comparison is in deference to those regions still using pan data.

Objective 3 (Coordinate the acceptance of standardized reference evapotranspiration equation). Ed Martin will head up a fact sheet dealing with ET methods, water use & crop coefficients.
Jim Jacobs will disseminate a task list to all members.

Objective 4 (Coordinate the identification and documentation of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling and the method by which coefficients are moved forward in time [accumulated heat units, % crop cover, time, etc.]). Ed Martin will contact California counterparts to help them get involved. Joe Henggeler will investigate use of Doppler rainfall as a method of scheduling. Ted Sammis will talk to WCC-102 about Doppler, send out a spreadsheet for each of us to do KC re-calculations, and contact Dan Smeal.

Peter Palmer was elected secretary of the WCC-202. The 2003 WCC-202 meeting be held in the Kansas City, Missouri area with target dates of May 13 and 14, 2003 (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Ted Sammis & Joe Henggeler, in post-meeting discussion: we need to initiate a 4-H Irrigation Scheduling Project. Joe Henggeler will look into this.

Objective 1. Development of delivery methods for the dissemination of climate based irrigation scheduling.
7The US Bureau of Reclamation operates a network of 62 automated agricultural weather stations in the Pacific Northwest region, and 21 stations in the Great Plains region in Eastern Montana.
7AgriMet produces 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 curves.
7Both regions post current weather data and crop water use information daily on websites:
PN Region: http://www.pn.usbr.gov/agrimet
GP Region: http://www.gp.usbr.gov/agrimet/agrimet.htm
7New stations: seven new stations were installed in the Pacific Northwest region in 2002 to date; six additional stations will be installed before the end of the summer for a total of 13 new stations.
7Both regions provide numerous responses to data requests via email and telephone.
7Several rural agricultural newspapers publish AgriMet crop water use data during the growing season.
7Crop 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.
7The USBR is working with CSU Fresno Center for Irrigation Technology on Wateright: An Educational and Irrigation Scheduling Resource for Water Managers (http://www.wateright.org/). This website (under development) allows the user to input specific information about their crops and irrigation systems while tying into AgriMet or CIMIS for crop ET information.
Objective 3. Coordinate the acceptance of a standardized reference evapotranspiration equation.
7AgriMet program is exploring the possibility of contracting to implement new standardized reference ET equation.

Objective 4. Identification, documentation and verification of crop coefficients used in irrigation scheduling, including method by which coefficients are moved forward in time (accumulated heat units, % crop cover, time, etc.).
7AgriMet 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. These dates are normally derived from a table of historical relationships with emergence dates. This local contact method is very time consuming and potentially inconsistent.
7AgriMet crop curves are available on the Internet at http://mac1.pn.usbr.gov/agrimet/cropcurves/About_Crop_Curves.html

Programs Available for Irrigation Scheduling presented by Joe Henggeler at The Improving Efficiency in Agriculture conference, Mar 20-21, 2002, Las Cruces NM.

Missouri‘s Web-based Interactive Irrigation Chart Creator. Henggeler, J.C.

Bockhold, D.L., Henggeler, J.C., Sudduth, K.A., Thompson, A.L. Comparison of eight irrigation scheduling tools on soybean and cotton.

Howell, T.A. Enhancing water use efficiency in irrigated agriculture. Agron. J. 93(2):281-289.

Evett, S.R., Howell, T.A., and Schneider, A.D. Water use efficiency regulated by automated drip irrigation control. pp. 49-56. In Proceedings of the International Irrigation Show, Irrigation Assoc., Falls Church, VA.

Howell, T.A. Irrigation systems and management to meet future food/fiber needs and to enhance water use efficiency. pp. 10-14. In Proceedings of the INIFAP-ARS Joint Meetings: A Framework for Cooperation, Nov. 6-7, 2001 Weslaco, TX/Rio Bravo, Tam. (Mexico). [on CD-Rom along with PowerPoint presentation], USDA-ARS, Sothern Plains Area, College Station, TX.

Tolk, J.A., and Howell, T.A. Measured and predicted evapotranspiration of grain sorghum grown with full and limited irrigation in three High Plains soils. Trans. ASAE 44(6):1553-1558.

Schneider, A.D. and Howell, T.A. Scheduling deficit wheat irrigation with data from an evapotranspiration network. Trans. ASAE 44(6)1617-1623.

Evett, S.R., Ruthardt, B.B., Kottkamkp, S.S., Tolk, J.A., and Howell, T.A. Profiling soil water probes compared in three soils. Agron. Abstr. [CD-Rom].

Howell, T.A., Copeland, K.S., Evett, S.R., and Tolk, J.A. Radiation balance of irrigated turf grass. Agron. Abstr. [CD-Rom].

Tolk, J.A., Howell, T.A., and Evett, S.R. Measured and modeled plant and soil water evaporation of cotton. Agron. Abstr. [CD-Rom].

Schneider, A.D., Howell, T.A., and Evett, S.R. SDI, LEPA, and spray irrigation of grain sorghum. 2001 Intl. ASAE Meeting. Paper No. 012019 presented at Sacramento, CA, ASAE, St. Joseph, MI.

Bean, B.W., New, L. Amosson, S., Patrick, C., Rush, C., Payne, B., Howell, T., and Baumhardt, L. Increasing Northern High Plains profitability through education, demonstration, and applied research. In Proc. 22nd Biennial Grain Sorghum Research and Utilization Conference, Feb 18-20, Nashville, TN.

Howell, T.A., Schneider, A.D., and Dusek, D.A. Effects of furrow diking on maize response to limited and full sprinkler irrigation. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66(1):222-227.

Ahuja, L.R., Ma, Liwang, and Howell, T.A. (eds.). Agricultural System Models in Field Research and Technology Transfer. Lewis Publishers (CRC Press, Inc.), Boca Raton, FL. 357 p.

Evett, S.R., Ruthardt, B.B., Kottkamp, S.T., Howell, T.A. Schneider, A.D., and Tolk, J.A. Accuracy and precision of soil water measurements by neutron, capacitance, and TDR methods. Proc. 17th World Congress of Soil Science.

Piccinni, G., Marek, T., Jett, M., Schneider, A., Dusek, D., and Howell, T. Construction of three weighing lysimeters for the determination of crop coefficients for improving water use efficiency and managing irrigation of row and vegetable crops in the Winter Garden. UREC-02-018, Uvalde Research and Extension Center Report, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, TX.