a couple of exceptions to this, but it does reinforce that better timing of nitrogen can result in less usage.


For water usage, the most profitable farm ($147 per acre) applied slightly more water than needed compared to the nonlimited control group, suggesting that more precise measurement and application may be cost effective. Although this farm did not have the highest yields or the lowest costs, it used an aggressive marketing strategy to forward contract a portion of the crop and to reduce its transportation cost to market compared to other participants. Score one for the marketing economists!


Most interesting for the production economist (me) is that the second most profitable farm ($137 per acre) was the limited water and nitrogen control group, making a strong case for managed-deficit irrigation. With 50 percent less irrigation water and 15-20 percent less nitrogen, it yielded only 4 percent less than under unlimited conditions. No doubt that some timely rain helped to minimize the yield reduction due to deficit irrigation, but it does show that irrigated agriculture in this region can be pretty resilient with respect to reduced water usage.


The success of the Farm Management Competition in 2017 has guaranteed that it will be back in 2018, with additional sponsorships from the water industry. For this upcoming year, a buried drip system will be installed as a measure to introduce alternative irrigation technologies into the decision process. The com- petition has been a highly useful demonstration and data collection effort — and a good measure of fun, as well.


George Oamek, PhD, is an economist with Headwaters Corp. and


is also on the staff of the Platte River Recovery


Implementation Program’s executive director’s office.


visit https://taps.unl.edu. irrigationtoday.org 29 MOBILE DRIP IRRIGATION


TRANSFORMING PIVOT IRRIGATION THROUGH DRIP TECHNOLOGY


www.DragonLine.net or Call 844 - 424 - 3724 For A Dealer Near You


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