Farm Horizons
•
Aug. 8, 2016
Russ Martie shows off the venturi valve that injects microbubbles into the water distributed to one of his fields.
PHOTO BY GABE LICHT
should be able to do it better this year because I can
control it better.”
Advantages over center pivots
“The impetus for this is water conservation,” Wicklund said. “The main way it conserves water is that 100
percent of that water becomes available for the roots.”
Martie said his system uses 40 percent less water than
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a center pivot.
His moisture sensors allow him to monitor how much
water is needed.
“It allows us to more efficiently use our water,” Wicklund said. “If we’re seeing moisture increase below the
root zone, that’s not good. We can monitor that, and
more efficiently time our irrigation.”
Saving water and electricity also saves money.
“The other thing we’re showing is energy consumption because we don’t need as big of a pump station because it’s delivered at lower pressure,” Wicklund said.
“The energy consumption on subsurface drip irrigation
versus center pivot, even in a year like last year where
it rained every third day, the energy consumption was
considerably less.”
For example, Martie compared his son’s electric bill
of $108 for a field with a center pivot to his electric bill
of $40 for a similarly sized field.
Wicklund noted that subsurface drip irrigation is ideal
for smaller and irregularly shaped fields.
“A big, square field of 80 acres or more is perfect for a
center pivot,” Wicklund said. “Once you get into irregularly shaped fields and smaller fields, it’s not feasible.
That’s another area where this technology shines.”
Martie believes that some fields that could not accommodate a center pivot and are not currently being
farmed could be farmed successfully using subsurface
drip irrigation.
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