Will Thelander, a partner in his family’s farming business, walks through his harvested corn field, Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Casa Grande, Ariz. The Colorado River has been a go-to source of water for cities, tribes and farmers in the U.S. West for decades. But climate change, drought and increased demand are taking a toll. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is expected to declare the first-ever mandatory cuts from the river for 2022.
Boosting efficiency and saving water are two perks of a recent $45 million Water Irrigation Efficiency Program grant funded by the state and administered by University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, according to the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension website.
One innovation called the Ed Martin sprinker head is named after the current director of the Arizona Cooperative Extension System, said Robert Masson, assistant agriculture extension agent at the University of Arizona in Yuma.
The sprinkler head comes with a 3D printed bubblerhead to evenly distribute water over an entire field rather than soaking one end of the field and not getting enough water on the other half, Masson said.
The bubblerheads sit atop 35-foot aluminum pipes that lay flat on the field. Traditional sprinkler heads could spray water into the air rather than onto the field and older, inefficient methods such as flood irrigation would saturate fields slowly.
“(The bubblerheads) flood the field in a grid pattern,” Masson said.
The group is currently in the process of finding companies to help license the product, according to Masson.
Statewide, farmers have been forced to use less water after the U.S. Department of the Interior announced in 2022 Arizona must cut its water use by 21% of the state’s annual apportionment of Colorado River water.
The reduction for Arizona amounts to 592,000 acre-feet, a press release stated.
The announced water cuts started on Jan 1, 2024. In addition to Arizona’s cuts, Nevada and Mexico each face water cuts.
An estimated 40 million people use water from the Colorado River in seven states and in Mexico.
But it’s important for farmers to weather the storm, said Julie Murphree, spokeswoman for the Arizona Farm Bureau.
“Of any industry, it’s an industry we absolutely cannot live without,” Murphree said.
Arizona agriculture is a $23.3 billion industry with the state ranked as the second-largest producer of lettuce and spinach in the nation. There are 16,710 total farms in the Grand Canyon State, according to the Arizona Department of Agriculture.
But the number of Arizona farms has declined 12% from about 19,000 total farms in 2019, Murphree said.
Farmers and agriculture officials alike must be smart about water use.
The Arizona Farm Bureau said statewide efforts are needed for water planning with “local community support” and control, according to its website.
“We believe any statewide water plan should be designed to support increasing city populations in the active management areas while maintaining a significant agricultural industry in Arizona,” the website stated. “Where development occurs within (those areas), it should be on land with a historical use of water.”
What can farmers do to curb factors out of their control?
Practicing efficiency in farming methods can be a gamechanger. Some new irrigation methods can save 20% to 30% water compared to previous methods, she said.
“Farmers and ranchers are resilient,” Murphree said. “They’ve always been in the business of doing more with less,” she said.
Farmers use everything from laser-leveled fields to a cotton picker machine that can harvest acres of cotton in a short period of time — which requires significantly less labor. The harvester machine picks the cotton and can wrap and bail it.
There has been plenty of innovation during the past eight years such as automatic thinning and automatic weeding, Masson said. Weeding machines can both spray fertilizer and zap unwanted weeds, he said.
Still, there is work to be done with soils. Unwanted salt builds up in soils when less water is available. Salt builds up in soils naturally and in the past, farmers could use more water to simply wash the salt away, Masson said.
“(We need to) find a better way to treat the salt,” Masson said. “Right now, that’s science fiction.”
Brent Ruffner joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2021 where he writes about developments at TSMC and Maricopa County issues, including election topics.
He's written about stories that range from accusations that a Mesa monkey breeding facility is unsafe to what to do if you encounter a rattlesnake in the desert.
Community: He is a supporter of the American Cancer Society.
Education: Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University, May 2007.
Random Fact: He met former San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays at a Phoenix Firebird game after winning a contest for an autographed baseball.
Hobbies: Hiking in the woods and collecting sports memorabilia.
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