Irrigation Industry Research Articles

Improving Irrigation Water Use Efficiency: A Review of Advances, Challenges and Opportunities in the Australian Context

The demand for fresh water is on the increase, and the irrigation industry in Australia is looking to a future with less water. Irrigation consumes the bulk of the water extracted from various sources, and hence the efficiency of its use is of outmost importance. This paper reviewed the advancements made towards improving irrigation water use efficiency (WUE), with a focus on irrigation in Australia but with some examples from other countries. The challenges encountered, as well as the opportunities available, are also discussed. The review showed that improvements in irrigation infrastructure through modernisation and automation have led to water savings. The concept of real-time control and optimisation in irrigation is in its developmental stages but has already demonstrated potential for water savings. The future is likely to see increased use of remote sensing techniques as well as wireless communication systems and more versatile sensors to improve WUE. In many cases, water saved as a result of using efficient technologies ends up being reused to expand the area of land under irrigation, sometimes resulting in a net increase in the total water consumption at the basin scale. Hence, to achieve net water savings, water-efficient technologies and practices need to be used in combination with other measures such as incentives for conservation and appropriate regulations that limit water allocation and use. Factors that affect the trends in the irrigation WUE include engineering and technological innovations, advancements in plant and pasture science, environmental factors, and socio-economic considerations. Challenges that might be encountered include lack of public support, especially when the methods used are not cost-effective, and reluctance of irrigations to adopt new technologies.

Water torture: Unravelling the psychological distress of irrigators in Australia

Water institutional and property right reform in the food bowl of Australia, the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), has generated both benefits and costs for irrigators. Water allocation uncertainty along with the increased risk of recurring drought has been gradually placed back on irrigators to manage, and in the last decade there has been considerable reallocation of water from consumptive to environmental use in the MDB, which has caused much angst within rural communities. In the face of such change this study provides, for the first time, a large-scale profile (n = 1000) of irrigators' mental health in the MDB. Our point estimates suggest some irrigation industries in 2015-16 recorded some of the highest levels of psychological distress nationally; higher than dryland farmers or the Australian population. Financial difficulties were most associated with this distress, but it was intertwined and underpinned by the ongoing threat of water scarcity, which irrigators often incorrectly associate with the implementation of the Basin Plan. Psychological distress varied by industry and location: horticulturists reported the highest levels of distress, followed by broadacre, dairy and livestock. Future national water policy must consider the real impacts of water recovery, and recognize that so-called ‘socially neutral’ water recovery policies can actually cause significant community harm where they hamper farm exit and adaptation to a hotter future. We recommend that future water policy must focus on i) encouraging farmer adaptation (hence supporting water entitlement buy-back and eliminating on-farm irrigation infrastructure subsidies); and ii) removing farm exit barriers.

Farm Water Program: Using the Water Savings Calculator

AbstractCalculating the water savings expected to be realised from improvements to farm irrigation systems is an integral part of the Farm Water Program being delivered in northern Victoria, Australia. Water savings form the basis of works packages landowners undertake to improve water productivity of their irrigation systems. Through the Farm Water Program, landowners agree to transfer more than half of the water savings for environmental purposes in exchange for funding to do works. The Farm Water Program originated in 2009 following the introduction of an AU$300 million On‐Farm Irrigation Efficiency Program by the Australian government. The Goulburn Broken and North Central Catchment Management authorities, relevant Victoria government agencies and irrigation industry bodies formed a consortium to bid for funding to be used on properties across the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District of Victoria. The organisations have worked in partnership as the Farm Water Program and have successfully delivered 620 projects involving over 80 000 megalitres of water savings. The water savings calculator was developed using research findings conducted in the region and has been widely accepted and confirmed by landowners as they have developed projects. This paper describes the processes of using the water savings calculator to determine project water savings. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The impact of drought and water scarcity on irrigator farm exit intentions in the Murray–Darling Basin

Drought and future water scarcity in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) will continue to restructure the irrigation industry in the coming decades. There has been little work conducted in Australia that has modelled farm exit or exit intention. ABARES farm survey data were used to model irrigators’ farm exit intentions across the southern MDB from 2006 to 2013. In particular, we examined the hypotheses that drought and water scarcity positively impacted on farm exit intentions and that it is the poorest performing farms that intend to exit in times of drought. Results revealed that water scarcity impacts varied considerably. There was only weak evidence to suggest that irrigators’ exit intentions were higher in times of drought, but there was stronger evidence to support the influence of a lagged water scarcity impact on farm exit intentions during periods of nondrought (e.g. intending to exit at times when the property market was less depressed). There was also strong evidence that poorer performing farms (measured by rates of return and higher debt over a certain level) were more likely to have exit intentions in drought periods, but not necessarily so in nondrought periods. Older age is the most consistent predictor of farm exit intentions across all industries, though it was most significant in drought periods.

A soil water and solute learning system for small-scale irrigators in Africa

Better yields of high-value crops are necessary for a profitable irrigation industry in sub-Saharan Africa. We introduced two simple tools, the Chameleon soil moisture sensor and the FullStop wetting front detector, which represent soil water, nitrate and salt levels in the soil by displaying different colours. These tools form the basis of an experiential learning system for small-scale irrigators. We found that farmers quickly learned from the tools and changed their management within a short time. The cost of implementing a learning system would be a small fraction of that of building or revitalizing irrigation schemes.

Naandan and Jain: Leave this World Better than You Found it

India-based firm, Jain Irrigation Systems (Jain Irrigation), and its acquisition of NaanDan Irrigation Systems (NaanDan) offers an opportunity to explore supply chain sourcing and coordination as well as shupply chain management and global innovation. At the time of the case, Jain Irrigation's supply chain focus was mainly in India and the United States. While Jain Irrigation had deep knowledge of and production capabilities in the agriculture industry, Jain Irrigation believed that it would benefit from an Israel-based drip-irrigation company's technology and supply chain, so it arranged a meeting to talk about a joint venture. From its humble beginnings on a kibbutz in 1930, NaanDan had become a major manufacturer of micro irrigation with a global presence. NaanDan had manufacturing facilities in Israel, the United States, Chile, Brazil, Spain, and Australia. With its vast supply chain, NaanDan could get its product anywhere in the world. What the company leaders wanted was to create a competitive advantage through an investment in technology. In early 2007, NaanDan announced on its website that it was looking for a partner. The question was, should it sell the company to a large global firm such as John Deere, which had formed its own micro- and drip-irrigation business in 2006, seek private equity firms that had industry-specific knowledge and global networks, or pursue opportunities with competitors? Excerpt UVA-OM-1547 Rev. Apr. 3, 2017 NaanDan and Jain: Leave This World Better Than You Found It Farmers in the seventh-largest county in the world did a lot of talking about the weather—especially about rain or lack of it. The India-based firm Jain Irrigation Systems (Jain Irrigation), whose founder, Bhavarlal H. Jain, established the company with a mission to “leave this world better than you found it,” had been searching for an opportunity to help advance micro irrigation worldwide and gain competencies in that area. Thus far, Jain Irrigation's supply chain focus was mainly in India and the United States. While Jain Irrigation had deep knowledge of and production capabilities in the agriculture industry, the company believed that it would benefit from an Israeli-based drip-irrigation company's technology and supply chain, and NaanDan of Israel seemed like a good possibility, so it arranged a meeting to talk about a joint venture. From its humble beginnings on a kibbutz in 1930, NaanDan Irrigation Systems (NaanDan) had become a major manufacturer of micro irrigation with a global presence. NaanDan had manufacturing facilities in Israel, the United States, Chile, Brazil, Spain, and Australia. With its vast supply chain, NaanDan could get its product anywhere in the world. What the company leaders wanted was to create a competitive advantage through an investment in technology. In early 2007, NaanDan announced on its website that it was looking for a partner. The question was about the best way to enable the company to make this investment. Should it sell the company to a large global firm, such as John Deere, that had formed its own micro- and drip-irrigation business in 2006; seek private equity firms that had industry-specific knowledge and global networks (as was done by its biggest local competitor, Netafim); or pursue opportunities with other similar firms in different geographical locations? The Water Irrigation Industry . . .

Integrated watershed management in the Bow River basin, Alberta: experiences, challenges, and lessons learned

Alberta’s Bow River is heavily engineered and hard-working, supplying water to almost 1.5 million people, while meeting the needs of hydropower, agriculture, tourism and irrigation industries upstream and downstream of Calgary. Working together since 1992, the Bow River Basin Council, a voluntary multi-stakeholder organization, with government representatives at the table, has developed watershed management plans as decision-support tools; provided a forum for relationship and trust building; shared information; and co-generated knowledge. Difficult challenges became opportunities for collaborative learning by doing. The processes involved in integrated watershed management were as important as the plans that emerged. Implementing plan objectives remains the greatest challenge.

Evaluating potential coal seam gas impacts to the Condamine Alluvium: an example of successful community involvement

The groundwater resources of the Condamine River Alluvial Aquifer (Condamine Alluvium) in Queensland have been developed in the past 60 years for irrigation, stock, domestic and other uses. Extraction of more than 55,000 mL/yr from this aquifer is critical to supporting the local irrigation industry. Existing and proposed coal seam gas development in the Surat Basin extends to underneath the western edge of the CA footprint and involves depressurisation of coals that form up to 10% of the Walloon Coal Measures (WCM) at some depth below the alluvium. Reduced groundwater availability from the already-stressed Condamine Alluvium is thus an oft-quoted concern of landholders when further development of the CSG industry is considered. An extensive study, led by the Queensland Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) and supported by Arrow Energy, was carried out to provide quantitative assessments of vertical hydraulic conductivity between the alluvium, coal measures and intervening formations. This extended abstract focuses on one element of the aforementioned study led by Arrow Energy, specifically, aquifer testing undertaken at two representative sites overlying the Condamine Alluvium. This included drilling and collection of core; geophysical, geomechanical and geochemical testing; test pumping and monitoring; and, modelling. An important element of this project, aside from sharing of data and results—was the involvement of local landholders in development of the investigations, and attendance at field days during drilling and presentation of results. Key findings included estimated ranges of vertical hydraulic conductivity derived from parameter estimation modelling that were lower than previously suggested.

Irrigator and Environmental Water Management Adaptation to Climate Change and Water Reallocation in the Murray–Darling Basin

In an earlier paper (Kirby et al. 2014a), we showed that climate change and a new policy which reallocates water to the environment will impact both the flow of water and the income derived from irrigation in the Murray–Darling Basin. Here, we extend the analysis to consider irrigator and environmental water management strategies to adapt to these new circumstances. Using an integrated hydrology-economics model, we examine a range of strategies and their impact on flows and the gross income of irrigation. We show that the adaptation strategies provide a range of flow and economic outcomes in the Basin. Several strategies offer significant scope to enhance flows without large adverse impacts on the gross income of irrigation overall. Some environmental water management strategies enhance flows in the Murray part of the basin even under the drying influence of a projected median climate change. Irrigator strategies that include carryover of water in storage from one year to the next provide for lesser year to year variability in gross income and may be regarded as more advantageous in providing security against droughts. Flows and the gross income of low value irrigation industries strategies are sensitive to climate change, irrespective of adaptation strategy. Should a projected dry extreme climate change be realized, no strategy can prevent a large reduction in flows and also in gross income, particularly of low value irrigation industries. Nevertheless, environmental water management strategies mitigate the impact on flows, and in some cases may also help mitigate the impacts on gross income. High value irrigation industries are less affected (in terms of gross income, though net income will reduce because of rising water prices) by projected climate change, consistent with observation in the recent long term drought.

Identifying Water Prices at which Australian Farmers Will Exit Irrigation: Results of a Stated Preference Survey

Among the measures taken by the Australian government to address one of the worst droughts on record in the Murray‐Darling Basin, exit package issues have rarely been investigated. A stated preference survey was designed to identify the range of water prices required for irrigators to sell all their water entitlements and leave the irrigation industry. Farmer participation responses are generally price elastic. There are large regional differences in price elasticities, but within a region there are few differences based on subgroups of farmers.

简述滴灌产业发展现状及建议

滴灌技术已在农业、林业、城市绿化等上广泛应用。本文结合自己的推广应用的经验和体会简述了国内外滴灌产业发展现状及存在的问题，提出了滴灌产业持续发展的建议：1) 加大滴灌节水扶持力度，提高滴灌节水灌溉机械化、现代化技术；2) 制定措施鼓励推广国产节水器材；3) 对我省滴灌节水新产品设备的购买和销售实行补贴；4) 制定鼓励我省节水灌溉企业集团化、资本化发展的优惠政策，增强滴灌在国际市场的竞争实力。 The drip-irrigation technology has been applied widely in agriculture, forestry and urban greening. In the present paper, the present developmental situation and the existing problems of drip- irrigation industry were discussed, and the suggestions of this industry sustainable development were put according to our experience and understanding. The suggestions were: 1) Increasing the support for development of drip-irrigation saving water technology and improving the mechani-zation as well as modern technology; 2) Making measures for encouraging the domestic water saving equipment extension; 3) Giving the financial support for purchasing and selling the new products and equipments of drip-irrigation produced in our province; 4) Making the favourable policy for encouraging the collectivization and capitalization development of the water saving ir-rigation production companies in our province so as to strengthen the competition ability of our drip-irrigation industry in international market.

Irrigation’s Impact on Economic Growth in Alberta, Canada

Irrigation development in semi-arid regions provides benefits for producers as well as many others who reside in the region. Although a common perception exists that irrigation benefits only irrigation producers, a study carried out by Paterson Earth and Water Consulting Ltd showed that irrigation positively impacts many more sectors of the Alberta economy than just irrigation producers. Compared to dry land (rain fed) agriculture, irrigation creates increased employment and economic activity through the purchase of additional farm inputs as well as processing of agricultural products. Multi-use water storage reservoirs, which support irrigation agriculture, provide societal benefits through recreation, hydropower generation, and water supply for habitat development, communities and industries. This study estimated that Alberta’s irrigation industry, which represents less than 5% of the cultivated land base, generates about $3.6 billion to the provincial gross domestic product (GDP), accounting for about 20% of the total agri-food sector GDP. It is also responsible for generating about $2.4 billion in income and creating about 56,000 jobs. Many of these jobs and incomes are generated in the rural regions of the province, and serves as an important part of the rural development initiatives in Alberta. Almost 90% of the GDP generated by the irrigation sector accrued to the region and the province, and only 10% accrued to irrigation producers.

Efficient Water Use for Sustainable Irrigation Industry

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the economic efficiency of irrigated agricultural enterprises using a non-radial data envelopment analysis approach. While a number of studies have used radial measures based on data envelopment analysis to obtain efficiency scores for a given production technology, we calculate non-radial measures to understand the efficiency of using individual inputs employed in the production process. In particular, the measures of economic efficiency are decomposed into water use efficiency and managerial efficiency. This decomposition enables us to obtain an efficiency score for the use of water as an environmentally sensitive input in irrigated crop production systems. Treating water input in this way goes beyond traditional measurement of water use efficiency, as the calculated efficiency scores can be used as indicators of sustainability in terms of water withdrawals for irrigation purposes. The results show that the overall efficiency for the considered irrigated enterprises is quite high. This is in contrast to the findings on the water use efficiency scores, which are fairly low. This indicates that while Australian irrigated farms are comparatively more efficient in overall farm activity management, they are not very efficient in managing water resources. In turn, this threatens the sustainability of this industry. There is a substantial variation of water use efficiency scores across irrigated enterprises and across regions. Analysing these variations can provide important insights for current policy and for future efforts to improve water use efficiency that will lead towards more sustainable irrigation industry.

The economics of irrigating wheat in a humid climate – A study in the East of England

In the UK, wheat is the most important cultivated cereal, grown extensively as a rainfed crop. Irrigation of wheat has previously been considered uneconomic, but increases in world wheat prices and recent droughts have led to some farmers revising their views. Widespread adoption of wheat irrigation would have major implications for wheat production, the irrigation industry and water resources in regions that are already water scarce. This study investigated the financial viability of irrigating winter wheat grown on a sandy loam soil in the East of England. Long-term climate data (1961–2011) for Silsoe (Bedfordshire) was used to drive a biophysical crop model to assess irrigation water requirements and yield response. Modelling assumed a typical irrigation schedule to maximise yield and quality, and average reported wheat prices for 2007 to 2012. Irrigation costs were calculated assuming an overhead mobile hosereel–raingun system applying river water, abstracted either in summer and used directly, or abstracted in winter and stored in an on-farm reservoir.The results suggest that the yield benefit would justify supplemental irrigation by farmers who have unused irrigation equipment and unused summer water, although irrigation of higher-value field vegetable crops later in the season would normally take precedence – the Added Value of Water (AVW) usefully applied to milling winter wheat under these conditions ranged between 0.24 and 0.32 £ m−3. Investment in new irrigation schemes could also be marginally viable if unused summer river water was available for direct abstraction (AVW = 0.08 £ m−3). Investments in new farm reservoirs for irrigating wheat are currently not profitable (AVW = –0.23 £ m−3). Sensitivity analysis suggests that in the longer term, the expected increase in world wheat prices and the impacts of climate change are likely to make the financial benefits stronger, particularly in the drier catchments further east and on low moisture retentive soils, but competing demands for water would still make extensive wheat irrigation unlikely.

The impact of water ownership and water market trade strategy on Australian irrigators’ farm viability

Reforms in the Murray-Darling Basin over the past several decades have led to well developed water entitlement and allocation markets. Irrigators now use a diversity of water trade and ownership approaches, ranging from owning relatively large amounts of water entitlements relative to their annual demand and selling when they have excess water, to owning smaller amounts (or less secure) water entitlements and relying heavily on water allocation markets to meet annual demands. Some irrigators do not trade at all. Although the benefits of water markets in reallocating water have been well established, there has been very little empirical analysis of the impact that water ownership and water market trade strategy has had on irrigators’ farm net incomes. This study uses irrigation industry survey data collected over a five year period from 2006/2007 to 2010/2011 across the Murray-Darling Basin to investigate the relationship that water trade strategy and water ownership have with farm viability (namely farm net income and rate of return). Although this is an interesting period to investigate these relationships, it must be noted that it was a period of extreme water scarcity and high water prices; hence any interpretation of results must take this into account. It was found that the actual volume of water received (which is a measure of water allocations for that region and size and security of water entitlements) is a more significant and positive influence on farm net income than water ownership per se, with this result most strongest in the horticulture industry. Water reliability is not as important in the broadacre industry as other industries. Selling water allocations was a significant and positive influence on farm net income and rate of return. Buying water entitlements was sometimes associated negatively with farm net income and rate of return in our time period, with no statistical significance found for the impact of selling water entitlements in the current year.

A Comparison of Water Policies for Sustainable Irrigation Management: The Case of India and Australia

A comparative analysis of irrigation related issues and effectiveness of water policies in India and Australia is conducted to help share the learning from each other’s experience in sustainable irrigation management. Keeping in pace with the global trend of implementing a sustainable water management program, India has adopted the concept of participatory irrigation management (PIM) while Australia has adopted irrigation management transfer (IMT) program. PIM in India is regarded as experimentation in diverse socio-economic settings with mixed results while IMT in Australia has achieved a high level of water use efficiency. Australian irrigation industry is currently driven by market mechanisms where water trading is expected to lead to greater efficiency. However, there are concerns that sole reliance on water use (or economic) efficiency objective may conflict with the objectives of social equity and ecological sustainability. Similar to Australia, there is an opportunity for water markets in India. However, conflict in the objectives of efficiency, equity and sustainability constrain the debate of establishing water markets in India. The comparative analysis indicates that despite both countries have a common goal of sustainable water management, their strategies differ. Nevertheless, India can emulate many of the Australian experiences in water policy reforms, entitlements, institutional arrangements, and corporate style of management while Australia can adopt the best Indian traditions of decentralized participatory and community management for sustainable irrigation water management.

A Note on Contradictions in Australian Water Policy

The success of Australia's water markets is now well documented and confirms the hypothesised usefulness of water markets as a policy tool, at least in the context of places like the Murray–Darling Basin. In this article, we reflect on the theoretical benefits of water markets as a point of reference against which to scrutinise the current penchant of government to subsidise irrigation infrastructure in efforts to address over‐allocation. We conclude that this approach results in a serious contradiction, unless there are grounds for believing that government has insights into the dynamic efficiency of the irrigation industry that exceed the coordination power of the market.

The total air budget in oxygenated water flowing in a drip tape irrigation pipe

In this work we concentrate on the measurement of the total air volume profile along an irrigation drip tape and the pilot testing of a visualization assembly suitable for use in the irrigation industry under field conditions. The visualization system is based on continuous image capturing and can be used to determine the number and size of bubbles, as well as estimate the void fraction percentage of air in aerated water stream.The research results produced a number of positive outcomes for continuous monitoring of bubble behaviour during irrigation. We obtained data on the air fraction in aerated water using our experimental setup for three treatments – open end drip tape, closed end drip tape and closed end drip tape with surfactant added to the air/water stream. From these data we determined the void fraction of air in the irrigation water stream along the length of drip tape, showing a decline with distance from the Mazzei Venturi model 384 air source, an effect offset to some extent by addition of 2ppm of surfactant to the irrigation water. The void fraction estimates derived from the images from the camera system are consistent with the system specifications from the Mazzei air injectors performance based on Bernoulli’s principle.

Performance analysis of public funded irrigation projects in Tanzania

Application of indicator-based management tools to evaluate performance and taking measures to mitigate the negative effects on project performance contributes to improvement. This research paper presents the findings of the analysis of performance of public funded smallholder irrigation projects in Tanzania with the aim to inform improvement actions. Through opinion survey of a sample of policy or decision makers and implementers of projects, and a case study of 16 smallholder irrigation projects, conceptual and physical data were collected and analyzed. The findings show that performance assessment in irrigation sub-sector in Tanzania is ad hoc, fragmented and done mainly during the construction phase, in donor funded projects. Seventy percent of 20 highly ranking performance indicators considered suitable in Tanzania also have high potential to improve project performance in the Tanzanian irrigation industry. These indicators constitute the key performance determinants. Forty percent of performance indicators currently used in Tanzania, which include the traditional time and cost indicators, are considered not significant in improving performance. Time and cost overrun of 16 investigated projects was in the tune of 50% and 8% respectively. The factors affecting project performance are diverse but interrelated, with possible common root causes, and effects cutting across various project processes. The mitigation measures are also interrelated and cut across project processes, and therefore, require integrative approaches.

Eliciting the Decision Influences of Stressed Farmers

This study aims to elicit the influences on farmers decision-making, especially when those decisions result in substantial change such as whether they will participate in the government’s irrigation modernisation program or selling their water outright and leaving the irrigation industry. The study group of northern Victorian irrigation farmers are experiencing profound change because their industry and their region is in decline from a prolonged drought, low commodity prices and uncertainty from far reaching government water reforms. Qualitative responses to a mail-out survey were analysed using the text analysis tool, Leximancer. The program automatically uncovered a set of influences on farmers’ decision-making that became more easily understood when examined using Leximancers’ visual conceptual map.