Board Member Spotlight: How One Delta Farmer Incorporates Irrigation on His Farm
We caught up with Paul Dees, current MSPB chairman and soybean farmer from Leland, to talk about his irrigation plans for the year and how he approaches sustainability and cost savings.
What is your irrigation strategy for this year?
My plan is always to irrigate as needed. I want all my crops to get as much as they need, but don’t want to spend the money to do extra watering when it’s not necessary. I want to be a good steward of resources. I have two center pivots with drop nozzles, and I also do furrow irrigation and use Pipe Planner to help me determine appropriate hole sizes. I have been doing this for about four to five years.
When Pipe Planner is used to calculate polypipe diameter and punch hole sizes, the program gives a producer a “prescription.” This prescription generally remains the same if the volume of water the well produces remains the same and nothing changes with regards to the field- ex. size or slope. It’s a one-and-done kind of thing. It can be tedious but once you get it done, you have it. Unless you change the size or grade of your land, you generally won’t need to adjust. I keep a notebook with each field in it and punch the holes accordingly year after year.
How does last season impact your decisions for this year?
Last year, we were blessed with timely rain, and I irrigated less than I ever have before, but that’s not always the case. The weather dictates the frequency of my irrigation. Ideally, we would have the same timely rains as last year, but this will be my 19th crop and last year was the first time it happened.
What has changed in your strategy in the past five to 10 years?
In the past 10 years, research has shown the Alluvial aquifer that we use to supply our irrigation water is being depleted. As someone who wants to farm and wants my family to continue to farm, I want to be a good steward of the resources we use. Also, it just makes sense to irrigate as efficiently as possible. Even if the ground water supply were infinite, if you are using less water and making the same yields, you are saving money. It’s a win/win.