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Irrigation

Supporting Efficient Irrigation Practices for Farms & Fish

We offer assistance with irrigation system upgrades, fish screen enhancements, irrigation water management and more.

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Irrigation Efficiency Conversions

Benton Conservation District has assisted a variety of irrigators with their conversions to higher efficiency irrigation systems. These conversions offer water quality and conservation benefits as well as operational benefits for the irrigator. We offer both technical and financial assistance for these conversions. Financial assistance (cost-share) up to 75% of the total project cost may be obtained depending on your project and our funding source.

Project Examples Include:

  • Conversion from furrow/rill irrigation to a sprinkler irrigation system.

  • Conversion from handline/wheeline irrigation to center pivot irrigation.

  • Conversion to drip or micro-irrigation from other irrigation methods.

Get in touch if you’re interested in upgrading your irrigation system.

Irrigation Water Management

How much water to apply and when to irrigate are the two most important questions an irrigator needs to answer. An irrigator needs to know how much water their system applies over a given time and how much water does the crop consume (evapotranspiration) during a specific period. Accurate designs or detailed irrigation evaluations can define a systems application rate. Crop water use can be estimated using weather station data from networks such as Agrimet or AgWeatherNetwork.

  • Gravimetric (Oven dry)

  • Tensiometry (Measures soil tension or suction)

  • Electrical Resistance Blocks (Measures electrical resistance in the soil which is related to soil moisture).

  • Neutron Scatter (emits fast neutrons and estimates water content by measuring hydrogen - not for amateurs)

  • Time Domain Reflectometry (measures the dielectric constant of the soil which is dependent on soil moisture content)

  • Frequency Domain Reflectometry (also known as Radio Frequency Capacitance, measures soil capacitance which is dependent on soil moisture content)

Resources:

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