Agricultural Irrigation

Agricultural water users can optimize water use efficiency and protect the quality of water resources by applying basic information about irrigation systems, crop water use and management practices.

Impact of R Stage-timed Single Irrigation Events on Soybean Seed Number and Seed Mass

Results of a three-year study investigating the impact of mitigating water stress during soybean reproductive stages on the two components that comprise yield — seed number and seed mass.

Nebraska Soil Health School: A Success Story of Collaboration and Learning

During its inaugural year, the Nebraska Soil Health School educated more than 200 producers and ag industry stakeholders on the latest research and practices for healthy soils to increase crop productivity.

Irrigation Season to End in September

A review of this year's irrigation season in the Panhandle and crop water use expectations for Aug. 28-Sept. 3.

Optimize Those Last Few Irrigations

Scheduling the last few irrigations of the season deserves extra attention because the goal is not only to focus on keeping the crop wet enough to produce optimal yields, but also on using up stored soil water. Leaving the field a little drier at the end of the season will save irrigation costs, decrease leaching losses, improve soil conditions for harvest traffic, and save water for future years. Growers also don't want to miss out on capturing off-season precipitation.

Irrigation Scheduling Application to Conserve Water Resources

Agriculture today is not what it was a decade ago. We are at an interesting pace of agricultural technological innovation and development in sensors, controls, robotics and technology, including irrigation scheduling applications. The declining quantity and quality of freshwater resources in many parts of the world, including the United States, imposes significant challenges for producers, managers, advisors and decision-makers to produce more yield with less water. It is necessary to promote sound management strategies to improve irrigation efficiency and conserve water resources. By using irrigation scheduling applications, producers can make more informed decisions that can lead to higher yields with fewer irrigation inputs. Nebraska is one of the top states that produces maize under different irrigation methods, in third place after Iowa and Illinois. The total irrigated area in Nebraska reaches about 9.3 million acres. More than 85% of the total irrigation areas use the center pivot irrigation system, while about 15% is covered by furrow irrigation and less than 1% is managed by subsurface drip irrigation systems (see fig. 1). A new irrigation scheduling application is being developed to improve irrigation scheduling that can have a substantial impact in using limited water supplies more effectively and increase yield per unit applied of irrigation water and sustain agricultural productivity. At the request of Irriga Global, Lutry, Switzerland, a field test was initiated for the 2022 growing season on maize fields to evaluate the irrigation scheduling application in one of the Irrigation Today.

Drought-stressed Crops and Yield Potential

Drought-stressed Crops and Yield Potential

How to Determine the Chemigation Injection Pump Setting for a Center Pivot with the End Gun Off and On

The key to knowing the correct setting for a chemigation pump is to first determine how many acres per hour the pivot will cover at the desired irrigation application depth or rate.

Estimated Crop Water Use for June 19-25, 2023

The estimated crop water use for Nebraska Panhandle crops for the previous week and the upcoming week is shown in this table. It is based on data gathered and calculations made by Gary Stone, Nebraska Extension educator, and Dr. Xin Qiao, extension irrigation and water management specialist, both based at the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff.

Study Reviews Farmer Irrigation Scheduling Tendencies in Dry Years

Study Reviews Farmer Irrigation Scheduling Tendencies in Dry Years.

Early Season Irrigation During Drought

Early Season Irrigation During Drought

Estimated Crop Water Use for June 5-11, 2023

Estimated Crop Water Use for June 5-11, 2023

New Whitepaper Explores the Connection between Soil Health and Water Quality

The Soil Health Nexus is excited to debut two new resources on the Soil Health Toolbox! Two Soil Health Nexus members, Francisco Arriaga, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Anna Cates, Assistant Professor and State Soil Health Specialist at the University of Minnesota, recently published a long-awaited whitepaper exploring the connection between soil health and water quality.

Yonts Water Conference an Update on Water, Grants and More

Industry experts shared snowpack/snowmelt runoff estimates for the upper North Platte River basin, updates on UNL irrigation management research and progress on replacing the Goshen/Gering-Ft Laramie tunnels that collapsed in 2019.

Don’t Lose Out on Free Nitrogen from Irrigation Water

Extension recommendations for calculating the amount of nitrate-nitrogen in irrigation water and optimal timing of applications to reduce the cost of nitrogen inputs in irrigated corn.

Pasture and Forage Minute: Early Season Alfalfa Irrigation, Trigger Dates and Weed Control

This week — Strategies for irrigating alfalfa in early season dry soil conditions, grazing to control abundant weed growth due to drought and forming a drought plan.

Water for Food Conference to Address Water and Food Security in a Changing World

This year's conference will focus on innovative ways to improve water and food security by increasing farmers’ resiliency to a changing landscape.

TAPS Program Kickstarts 2023 Competition Season

The 2023 TAPS Competition participants will soon make their first decisions of the growing season — watch for updates in the coming months as participants choose their seed varieties, manage nitrogen applications and irrigation, and more.

Growth and Modification Set for 2023 TAPS Year

TAPS is expanding its competition in 2023 with a new irrigated popcorn competition, a cover crops option for sprinkler corn, and a new location for the sorghum competition. The expansion also includes a new TAPS competition in Colorado.

Impact of Irrigation Technologies on Water Use: Clarifying Water Withdrawals and Consumptive Use

A new Nebraska Extension NebGuide clarifies the concept of consumptive use of water with regard to irrigated crop production and provides guidelines for determining the efficiency of new irrigation technology.

Rust-stained irrigation pipes hint at lack of nitrate in groundwater

According to study from Department of Natural Resources researchers, irrigation pivots stained with rust may indicate the absence of nitrate in the groundwater supplying the pivots. This information can potentially be used to help screen for areas for the potential absence of nitrate and, in an ideal world, could indicate areas at higher- or lower-risk for nitrate contamination before it becomes a problem.