Increasing Water Use Efficiency

Story in Brief

Irrigation scheduling and technology adoption in agriculture are critical issues in increasing the level of productiveness, profitability and crop yields. The goal of a UGA Extension program in crop and soil science is to promote sustainable agriculture practices by educating producers on which technologies best fit their operations and how to properly implement irrigation scheduling techniques, precision agriculture tools, and technological advances into their production practices to maximize the effectiveness of adoption. The implementation of advanced tools, technologies, and practices has shown to not only increase crop yields but to provide the opportunity for increasing on-farm profitability. There are about 800,000 total acres of peanuts planted in Georgia. So if 50 percent of these are irrigated, the concept of scheduled irrigation has a potential impact of $100 million in a dry year and $40 million in a wet year. Cotton is very similar to peanuts, and the studies at UGA have shown that in wet years using irrigation strategies in cotton have the potential to increase yield by 10 percent while reducing water use by 75 percent. These numbers can be directly translated to around $200 per acre savings and increased profitability for the producer, which translates to a $120 million impact on the state.

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• Increasing Water Use Efficiency and Precision Agriculture Adoption in Georgia