Water Summit for Arkansas Rice Farmers Cancelled

Speakers from Delta Plastics and Missouri Delta Research Station have cancelled their participation in a water summit for Arkansas Rice Farmers.  The speakers were to give presentations on programs that promote water conservation and irrigation efficiency for two rice farmer’s summits planned for December 13 and 14 at the Brinkley Convention Center at Brinkley, AR.  The Water Summit for Arkansas Rice Farmers was being sponsored by Arkansas Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federation, Delta Plastics, and Valmont Irrigation.

The following speakers were tapped to present information on various advances in water conservation and irrigation technology:  Phil Tacker, Irrigation Specialist for Delta Plastics and retired University of Arkansas Extension Agricultural Engineer, and Chris DeClerk, Irrigation Research Specialist, were to discuss Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation and the Phaucet Program for Furrow Irrigation.

Gene Stevens, Extension crop production specialist at the Missouri Delta Research Center was slated to present research conducted to evaluate mechanized irrigation on rice. Valley Irrigation, the Missouri Delta Research Center, EMBRAPA (the Brazilian agricultural research service) and Rice Tec have partnered to develop the Circles for Rice program. Stevens was to give a presentation on the Circles for Rice program and three years of field trial data.

Fred Ferrell, past Missouri Director of Agriculture and present owner of Mid-Valley Irrigation, is a Missouri farmer who has developed a successful strategy for raising rice using center pivot irrigation. Ferrell was to give an analysis on the past 10 years production and discuss a successful crop rotation program that he has implemented on his own farm.

The Arkansas Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation support water conservation and irrigation efficiency for landowners. Conserving and protecting wildlife and our natural resources for future generations is the basis for AWF and NWF’s mission. The two organizations realize that farmers play a significant role in using Arkansas’ natural resources and support sustainable use of our resources. A recent University of Arkansas landowner survey indicated that farmers were interested in learning more about new technology that conserves water and promotes irrigation efficiency.  NWF and AWF will continue to support farmers and look for future opportunities to bring the new technology and water conservation best management practices to the state.

A New Post on the Circles for Rice Blog

There is a new post by Jerry Gerdes on the Circles for Rice blog that gives a beginner’s lesson on sprinkler packages…..

Sprinkler Packages 101 by Jerry Gerdes

http://valleyrice.blogspot.com/

(if the link does not take you to the Circles for Rice blog then copy and paste the link into your web browser)

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 08:52 AM PST

“I have just completed my first year as a member of the Valley Circles for Rice team, and I have learned much about the process of growing rice. Crop-specific information is very useful when selecting sprinkler package components for a center pivot or linear irrigation (lateral move) machine. The term "sprinkler package" refers to the collection of sprinklers, pressure regulators, drop components, and fittings used to mount the sprinklers to the machine.”  (more)

WRDA prospects dim amid climate of fiscal concern (11/15/2010)

Here's a summary of the latest update on WRDA from Environment & Energy reporter, Paul Quinlan
WATER: WRDA prospects dim amid climate of fiscal concern (11/15/2010)

The mid-term election made the possibility of the next Congress approving a multibillion-dollar bundle of nationwide water projects known as the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) very slim. In the past, the WRDA has been one of the best ways for our congressional delegate to bring home the bacon. The legislation authorized billions of dollars in federal spending for locks, dams and levees; beaches; the Everglades; coastal wetlands and ecosystem restoration; and construction of drinking water and flood control systems across the United States -- all while creating jobs and, in many cases, subsidizing local and national utilities and industries.

The WRDA's enormous price tag is a problem. The WRDA of 2007 swelled to $23 billion after pet projects were included that gave the bill enough congressional support to override George W. Bush's veto. That scenario is not expected to happen in the near future with mid-term elections bringing a new crop of mostly Republican freshman consisting of tea partiers and budget hawks into Congress that have promised to cut the nation's fat.

Last week, the chances of a WRDA grew even slimmer when White House fiscal commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and former-Sen. Alan Simpson released draft recommendations on how to reduce the country's budget deficit that called for, among many other things, cutting $1 billion-worth of "low-priority" Army Corps of Engineers programs by 2015. That means that most WRDA-authorized projects are headed for the chopping block. Couple that with the sentiment touted widely among House Republican leaders last year that WRDA projects constitute "earmarks" -- even though some Senate Republicans, led by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), generally disagreed -- and the odds of WRDA progress drop further.

  

In an unprecedented move, Republican leaders withdrew all project requests from what ended up being a $6 billion WRDA the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee passed this year (E&E Daily, July 30). Republicans will take over that committee next year and start again on the WRDA process, from which almost all abstained this year.

The Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 10 a.m. in 406 Dirksen. Witnesses scheduled to testify include Matt Woodruff, director of government affairs at Kirby Corp. and member of Inland Waterways Users Board; Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers' Association; Steve Verigin, vice president of GEI Consultants Inc., and member of the National Committee on Levee Safety; and Lawrence Roth, senior vice president, ARCADIS U.S. Inc., on behalf of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Water Conservation and Irrigation Efficiency: A Water Summit for Arkansas Rice Farmers

Save the Date!

Water Conservation and Irrigation Efficiency:

A Water Summit for Arkansas Rice Farmers

Brinkley Convention Center

December 14, 2010

5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Free and Open to the Public

A Water Summit for Farmers will be held December 14, 2010 at the Brinkley Convention Center, Brinkley, AR, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. The summit will feature presentations on water conservation and irrigation efficiency. Speakers will discuss new programs to conserve water and make irrigation of crops more efficient.

Phil Tacker, Irrigation Specialist for Delta Plastics and retired University of Arkansas Extension Agricultural Engineer, will discuss Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation and the Phaucet Program for Furrow Irrigation.

Gene Simmons, Extension crop production specialist at the Missouri Delta Research Center will present research conducted to evaluate mechanized irrigation on rice. Valley Irrigation, the Missouri Delta Research Center, EMBRAPA (the Brazilian agricultural research service) and Rice Tec have partnered to develop the Circles for Rice program. Gene will talk about the Circles for Rice program and three years of field trial data.

Fred Ferrell, past Missouri Director of Agriculture and present owner of Mid-Valley Irrigation, is a Missouri rice farmer who has developed a successful strategy for raising rice using center pivot irrigation. He will present his cost analysis on the past 10 years production and discuss a successful crop rotation program that he has implemented on his own farm.

Doors will open at 5 pm with a free “Meet and Greet” reception!  You can sign up to attend this important event by calling or emailing Ellen McNulty at 870-329-1396 or awf.ellen.mcnulty@gmail.com.  You don’t want to miss this important event so call or email today to reserve your seat!

Sponsored by National Wildlife Federation, Arkansas Wildlife Federation, Delta Plastics, and Valley Irrigation

Protecting our Rice Farming and Duck Hunting Heritage Through Alternative Water Conservation and Irrigation Efficiency Practices

Here on the Grand Prairie, rice and ducks are the focus of our cultural identity and local economy.  These two rural industries are iconic to the Grand Prairie and go hand in hand. For the economy of the Grand Prairie to survive, rice and ducks must survive. The White River bottoms must remain hydrologically connected to the river, keeping wetlands of international importance alive. Local rice farmers must retain control of the water; and they must also implement new technology and best management practices for the rice industry to become sustainable.

Our groundwater is declining but the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project, a huge and costly water diversion project, is not the answer.  We need a solution that will empower landowners to raise rice and other crops in a sustainable manner.  There are several ways to accomplish this task:

    implement existing farm programs that conserve water

    utilize new irrigation technology

    indicate alternative crops and low water varieties

    evaluate new technology as it becomes available

Water solutions should consider stakeholder input, scientific data, economic and cultural identity, and uphold local, state, and federal water laws.

The U of A Survey Research Center conducted a Grand Prairie Landowners Survey in September of 2009. Results of the survey indicated that 58% of the landowners were favorable toward an alternative plan that involves new technology and water conservation best management practices while 25% were unsure.  A small percentage (17%), were opposed to an alternative plan to the GPADP.

I have listed below several websites for information and field trial results using center pivot and linear irrigation systems. The Circles for Rice website listed below highlights field trials that give up to a 50% water savings. Center pivot and linear irrigation systems have been around a long time but techniques and practices have been refined to the point where they provide a viable alternative to traditional rice growing. Please take a look at the websites and record your comments. Starting a dialog is our first step to finding ways to solve our water problems.

Rice Production under Center Pivots & Linears

http://www.valleyirrigationcalifornia.com/images/358/RiceBrochure_Nov09_sm.pdf

Rice Production and the Endeavor to Conserve Water

http://www.valleyirrigation.com/userfiles/file/Rice_brochure(1).pdf

Rice Under Pivot: Mechanized irrigation trial held on Arkansas farm

 By Carroll Smith, Editor, RiceFarming.com

http://www.ricefarming.com/home/issues/2009-12/2009_DecLead.html

Growing High-Yielding Rice Under a Zimmatic Pivot Irrigation System

McCarty Farm Case Study

Osceola, Arkansas, rice grower Michael McCarty is partnering with Lindsay Corporation, maker of Zimmatic irrigation systems, on one of the country’s first large-scale commercial rice research projects involving pivot irrigation systems. The pivot irrigated rice yielded competitively with flood irrigated rice and cost less per acre to produce.

http://zimmaticrice.com/case-study.pdf

Estimating Irrigation Costs

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-28.pdf

Circles for Rice

Valmont Irrigation is currently overseeing research on producing rice under center pivots and linears in an effort to conserve water and energy, as well as expand the area in which rice can be produced.  This initiative is appropriately titled Circles for Rice. The website provides a link to the Circles For Rice blog. There is current information including results from field trials in Arkansas, Missouri, and Brazil.

http://www.circlesforrice.com/

Arkansas Water Law Moves Toward An Allocation/Prior Appropriation System



This picture of the pump station site and inlet canal located on the White River at DeValls Bluff, Arkansas was taken October 8, 2010. Even with decreased funding for the GPADP, work continues on a project that is designed to divert water from the White River to irrigate rice farms on the Grand Prairie.

Arguments over environmental and economic impacts of the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project (GPADP) still exist and the Grand Prairie project isn’t the only US Corps of Engineers project with the potential to change the White River.  As many as 11 stream diversion projects are slated for construction around the state, 4/5 of which are in the White River or its tributaries. All of these projects involve subsidies on both the state and federal level and take the control of water from the farmer and replaces it with irrigation districts that will control the price and manner of the distribution of diverted water.

Since the early 1980’s, Arkansas water law and policy have moved toward abandonment of the riparian rights doctrine, where landowners have the right to reasonable use of water resources, in favor of an allocation/prior appropriation system similar to those in western states where a government or quasi-government agency is overseeing allocations.

A major complaint among landowners opposed to the project is the loss of control of water. Although the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) will be the organization charged with controlling the amount of groundwater that will be pumped in the region of the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project, a recent survey conducted by the University of Arkansas Survey Research Center showed that about 60 percent of the area’s landowners who claim to know about the project, believe that the landowners (56%) or no one (3.7%) will exercise the control of pumping groundwater. Just over 22% of landowners correctly identify the ANRC as the agent controlling the pumping of groundwater from the Grand Prairie’s Alluvial and Sparta aquifers. Conflicting survey results such as this example show that landowners within the GPADP lack accurate information about the project.

The purpose of the Water for Grand Prairie Farmers blog is to help landowners understand the ramifications of the GPADP and to seek alternative solutions that will keep the federal government from spending money on a costly project that will not protect our aquifers and precious wetlands. Visit the blog often for current information about GPADP and alternative solutions that include water conservation and irrigation efficiency applications.

Leveraging USDA Conservation for Water Conservation in the Grand Prairie Region

Several United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Bill conservation programs appear to have the capacity to both address the need for water conservation in the Grand Prairie region, and help area farmers be more productive and profitable. Below are some ideas for leveraging some of these programs for water conservation in Arkansas.

The programs can be even more effective if USDA will agree to target its programs to achieve water conservation in this region. Some options:

• the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) could identify water conservation as a priority resource of concern in the Grand Prairie region;
• the NRCS could set aside funds ear-marked for water conservation incentives in the region;
• the USDA Farm Service Agency could identify the area as a conservation priority area with respect to the Conservation Reserve Program;
• the FSA could work with state and local sponsors to create a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program focused on water conservation for this part of Arkansas.   

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

The program provides incentives for farmers to adopt farming and ranching practices and systems that address natural resource concerns, including water conservation. Those incentives typically cover a share of the costs (50 to 75%) of putting in place practices or systems, and in some cases a portion of any lost income that could result to the farmer from adopting the practice. Some practices that EQIP could fund:

Upgrading on-farm irrigation equipment to more efficient technologies (for instance, changing from flood irrigation to center pivot irrigation technology).

Installing water meters on wells and irrigation equipment to better measure water use.

Shifting from water-intensive crops to resource-conserving/water conserving crops (or broadening crop rotations to include some water-conserving crops.)

Transition costs (planting grass, fence and water facilities) to go from crop production to grass-based livestock production.

Transition costs (and foregone income) to shift from irrigated to dryland crop production.

Transition costs (and foregone income) to reduce the amount of irrigation water used.

Building on-farm ponds to store rainfall runoff that could be used for irrigation.

Arkansas was allocated about $23 million in USDA EQIP funds in 2009. The list of EQIP practices funded in Arkansas in 2009 is at http://www.ar.nrcs.usda.gov/news/ar_eqip_09.html

Conservation Stewardship Program

The program rewards farmers who have adopted the highest level of conservation systems, and who are willing to do more to boost soil, water, wildlife, or other conservation values. Farmers looking to sign up for the program must address some of the designated priority resource concerns in their area, so it would be important to have water quantity/water conservation as one of those designated resource concerns in the Grand Prairie area. USDA is in the process of obligating FY 2009 funds for the program, but it is a growing program and soon to be the second largest USDA working lands program behind EQIP.

Wetlands Reserve Program

The Wetlands Reserve Program is used to take currently cropped areas that were formerly wetlands, restore the wetland habitat and provide long-term protection for the wetland. It could be used to take irrigated (or non-irrigated) land out of crop production. The restored wetlands could provide water recharge benefits for area groundwater, in addition to providing wildlife habitat. Arkansas was allocated $6.6 million for the program in 2008.

Conservation Reserve Program

The program pays farmers who agree to take cropland out of production, plant grassland mixtures (and in some cases trees), and leave the land out of production for at least 10 years. There are ‘whole field’ enrollments, which happen when USDA at the national level decides to have one. One key would be to include the Grand Prairie area in the Farm Service Agency’s state priority area, so landowners in the area would get additional points in their signup score.

A drawback of the CRP is it only pays rental rates based on average DRYLAND rental rates in a county, so it is very difficult to get landowners to enroll higher value irrigated land in the program. However, states and USDA have created Conservation Reserve Enhancement Programs to address water conservation and other needs, and they can address the problem by using state or local dollars as leverage to boost the CRP payments up to where they are attractive to farmers with irrigated acres. For example, in Nebraska, where they are trying to take irrigated cropland out of production to address a water-short watershed, the USDA and state department of natural resources created a CREP where state dollars are used to provide an upfront bonus for landowners willing to take irrigated land out of production, and federal CRP dollars are used to pay for a share of the cost of planting native grassland mixes and to pay for ten years worth of rental payments (at dryland rates). The other big advantage of a CREP is that they operate under “continuous signup”, so you don’t have to wait for a national signup. Once the program is approved, a landowner can sign up at any time and the contract can be approved.    

Check out the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service web site for Arkansas, they have some helpful information and an annual report that will explain how the programs are now being used in Arkansas. The reports are at: http://www.ar.nrcs.usda.gov/news/publications.html