Location: Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research
Project Number: 2054-13000-010-626-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2026
End Date: May 31, 2028
Objective:
The objectives of this study are to 1. Evaluate irrigation strategies to optimize crop water productivity and 2. Develop dairy effluent application strategies to utilize the water and nutrients for crop production.
Approach:
Strategies and technologies will be developed and evaluated to improve irrigation water management for farmers. Appropriate technologies will be developed for the unique limitations faced by farmers using groundwater or surface water irrigation sources. Irrigation strategies will include methods or sensors for guiding when to irrigate as well as different types of sprinklers for applying irrigation water. The potential to vary irrigation and fertilizer application will be evaluated by comparing crop yields and crop water use in high and low productivity areas in fields at the Idaho Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Idaho CAFE), where variable soil depth results in high variability in crop yields.
As manure treatment facilities are developed on the Idaho CAFE dairy, effluent application strategies will be developed to utilize the water and nutrient for crop production to reduce fertilizer and freshwater applications. Plots studies will be conducted with different effluent application rates to determine crop nutrient availability and uptake.