Welcome to our new website! We are actively working to add missing content and fix broken links, so please check back throughout the week. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Donate

Extension Matters

Volume 11 Number 2

What’s New in Extension

Arcs of water flowing from a polypipe and into furrows of soybeans.

Extension’s recent Innovations in Irrigation Field Day featured a polypipe head-pressure demonstration.

Innovations in Irrigation Field Day highlights latest technologies

Story and photos by Leah Bowers

With more than 1,000 farms irrigated across six Mississippi Delta counties—Bolivar, Coahoma, Humphreys, Leflore, Sunflower, and Washington—almost 1.7 million farming acres are impacted by irrigation decisions and technologies, according to research by USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Arcs of water pour into furrows of soybeans.
Innovations in Irrigation Field Day was hosted by the MSU National Center for Alluvial Aquifer Research in Leland, Mississippi, in June.

Furrow irrigation is the most common method used to water Mississippi crops, but holes in the polypipe that deliver the water must be punched manually. Mississippi State University is developing a solution—an automated polypipe hole puncher that could become a game changer for in-furrow irrigation.

A person speaking with a microphone stands in front of a polypipe with water being released into rows of soybeans, while a group of people watches.
Dr. Drew Gholson, MSU Extension irrigation specialist and associate professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, explains how the water pressure impacts water delivery when the holes in the polypipe are punched with the automated hole puncher MSU researchers developed.
A person with a microphone speaks in a farm field, corn on the left and soybeans on the right, while another person holds a poster and a third person looks on.
The wide-row irrigation study aims to reduce water runoff, saving both water and money. Presenters included Dr. Himmy Lo, assistant Extension and research professor, with Emmanuel Mboma and Mary Bakare, MSU graduate students.

About 80 attendees at the MSU Extension Service’s recent Innovations in Irrigation Field Day had the chance to see what waterflow looks like when the hole sizes are uniform. They also learned the latest research about cover crops, soil health, wide-space irrigation, and irrigation scheduling methods.

A group of people fill a wagon.
Participants included Delta producers, area landowners, agricultural consultants, and researchers with MSU and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Extension publishes the MISSISSIPPI IRRIGATION MANUAL so producers can make the best, most efficient, and conservative choices in water distribution and management.

 

Filed Under

Mississippi State University Extension 130 Bost Drive Mississippi State MS 39762

Technical problems? Contact support.