SPECIALTY CROPS


The Almond Board of California, which represents these 7,600 almond growers, has been researching irrigation and water management practices since the 1970s. Insights from that research led the industry to reduce the water required to grow a pound of almonds by 33% over the past two decades thanks to ABC-supported practices and the adoption of efficient microirrigation technology.


Today, building off past endeavors, the California almond industry is continuing its efforts to grow almonds in better, safer and healthier ways, protecting local communities and the environment as well as producing a high-quality product. In 2019, the industry announced its Almond Orchard 2025 Goals, which include a commitment to reduce the amount of water used to grow a pound of almonds by an additional 20%. To further support growers and the broader industry in achieving more crop per drop, ABC is committed to support continued research, incentive funding and overall advancement of stewardship principles to address two major issues: management behavior and irrigation system equipment.


Regarding management behavior, ABC has entered partnerships with California Resource Conservation Districts (RCD), which help farmers schedule irrigations based on the three fundamentals of efficient irrigation: determining crop water use, irrigation system application rate and irrigation system distribution uniformity.


Providing help where it’s needed


Focus on water resource management


The California almond industry recognizes the importance of irrigation efficiency to not only keep growing this nut but also to continue improving growing practices by managing water resources as responsibly as possible, a focus that’s especially relevant given growing pressure on water resources from urban, agricultural and environmental interests worldwide, particularly in California.


irrigationtoday.org


Last year, the Almond Board supported Tehama County RCD in northern California to determine where irrigation help was needed most by performing in-orchard distribution uniformity tests and audits and by educating growers on management basics. The ABC-RCD connection began when RCD Mobile Irrigation Lab Manager Kevin Greer, CLIA, hatched a plan with ABC’s Field Outreach and Education Manager Tom Devol to target audits in almond orchards across five counties. Greer, who cut his teeth


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PILLARS OF IRRIGATION SCHEDULING


How does the Almond Board of California help growers get more crop per drop? It starts with education on the three pillars of water use efficiency, which are highlighted in ABC’s Almond Irrigation Improvement Continuum:


How much water does the crop need (crop evapotranspiration, inches


per day)? This is estimated from weather and agronomic data.


What is the irrigation system’s application rate? (inches per hour)? This is


calculated from system details such as emission device flow rate, spacing and pressure.


How uniform is the water applied over the crop area (distribution uniformity %)?


This is estimated at the time of design and validated by in-field measurements.


Together these three pillars are used to schedule irrigations, i.e., decide which days to run the system and for how long.


In theory, the run time should closely match the crop evapotranspiration, resulting in little waste. However, if the system is in disrepair and has a low distribution uniformity, even the best irrigation schedule will waste water. Likewise, if the system is in good operating condition but scheduled poorly, water will be wasted.


Both hardware (the irrigation system) and management behavior (deciding when and how long to schedule irrigations) are critical to the process.


Spring 2021 | Irrigation TODAY 17


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