A North Plains Groundwater Conservation District Program

Session I: Agronomics

Session I is devoted to the agronomics of efficient water management. Topics will include NRCS funding availablility, soil health, tillage, residue management and fertility management.

Session II: Irrigation Scheduling

Session II explains the application of the irrigation scheduling tools. Participants will explore the costs and potential returns to irrigation scheduling and whether you should apply pre-water, or not? Presenters will discuss the variety of tools available for measuring soil moisture. Participants will learn about the many aspects of using capacitance probes, from installation to reading the data, and what to do with the information. Finally, there will be a discussion about bringing all the data together to make irrigation scheduling easier to use in your operation.

Session III: Systems

Session III focuses on optimizing the most widely used irrigation system in the region, the center pivot system. Topics will include the economics of the center pivot and other systems, application efficiency, variable rate irrigation and pivot management, and monitoring and control, including remote pivot shut-off.

Session IV: Systems & Special Topics

The final session includes discussions of various topics related to irrigation management, including the 2017 profitability outlook for irrigated crops, the use of drones, other remote sensing techniques, variable frequency drives, and sub-surface drip irrigation.