Program Helps Farmer Schedule Irrigation

Farmer plugs polypipe on Soybeans
Cherry Valley farmer Richard Imboden plugs polypipe he uses
to furrow irrigate some of the soybean acreage
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By Rich Maples

Richard Imboden says irrigating his 15 soybean fields and nine rice fields with 10 wells is like a mama bird feeding her young. "I look down and see which one has its mouth open the widest and that's the one that gets fed first."

Imboden, who farms near Cherry Valley in Cross County, is always looking for more efficient ways to provide his fields with the water they need, when they need it. For the past five years he's worked on irrigation strategies with Phil Tacker, agricultural engineer for the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, and his county Extension agent.

Tacker said Imboden was one of the first farmers to use the university's computerized Irrigation Scheduling Program. The program, which predicts when fields will need to be irrigated based on maximum daily temperatures, rainfall amounts and irrigation, was developed by UofA researchers with funding from the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board.

"I used to use tensiometers, but they were too much work," said Imboden. "With the computer program, I can sit down on a Saturday night and within five minutes have an update on all of my fields."

Tacker said that when the tensiometers and the computer program were compared, both were accurate in predicting when fields needed to be irrigated. "They were within a day or two of one another," said the specialist.

Cross County Extension agent Rickie Wimberley said, "Growers who use the computer program to schedule irrigation may water earlier and more often than they're accustomed to. That might concern them until the end of the season when they see the yield advantage."

Tacker said the Soybean Promotion Board is also funding a study of irrigation methods on Imboden's farm. "Richard's problem is not being able to get back over a field with irrigation as quickly as the scheduling program is encouraging him to. "He was watering a lot with levees, and the inherent problem with levees is that they are often too wet.

"You tear the levees down or bust them in several places to move the water through the field. The rest of the field dries out while you have a lot of water around the levees and bar ditches. You can't get the levees mechanically built back before you need to irrigate again."

Tacker said Imboden, the county agent and he have explored three other ways to get water across the field quicker and more timely. One is a modification of the farmer's levee irrigation system--the use of multiple inlets.

"He put in levee gates, or spills, which he can raise or lower," said Tacker. "He doesn't have to rebuild the levees.

"The second approach being looked at is border irrigation. You build a border, which is similar to a levee, just not as big. The border is constructed in the direction of the primary fall, or slope, of the field. Levees are built on the contour.

"You're dumping the water between the borders, flushing it through to the end of the field."

The third approach being used on the farm is furrow irrigation. With furrow irrigation, you build beds. There have to be middles for the water to run down.

Imboden said the use of polypipe has made it easier for him to furrow irrigate in a timely manner.

The farmer added that it's the soil texture and topography of the land that dictates which type of irrigation method he uses. "Border irrigation is great where there's less than a 1 percent slope. You can't have any reverse grades. The water has to flow naturally from where you put it in to where it drains off the field."

Imboden said that being able to water on schedule has increased his soybean yields by 5 to 6 bushels per acre.

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