Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2010CA264B

An Advisory Service for Optimum Irrigation Scheduling in California

Institute: California
Year Established: 2010 Start Date: 2010-03-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $26,500 Total Non-Federal Funds: $14,045

Principal Investigators: Allan Fulton

Abstract: The project will establish an irrigation advisory service to assist individual farms with improving water use efficiency and maximizing net economic returns to water. A web-based advisory service designed for that purpose has been developed and tested under NRCS auspices in Oregon. This proposed project will initiate use of that advisory service in California. Two new algorithms will be added to the original program to make the advisory service more effective for California Agriculture: (i) an algorithm for analyzing leaching requirements and potential yield reduction under saline conditions, (ii) an algorithm for reconciling differences in estimated crop water use based on three different estimators; soil moisture measurements, cumulative ET estimates, and for some crops, crop stress indicators (midday stem water potential). The project will be implemented as a pilot program in targeted regions of the state.