Public Policy Issues
Agriculture Irrigation Research Priorities
The Irrigation Association has identified the following priority areas for agriculture irrigation research:
- Irrigation water management practices and systems.
- Wastewater utilization on irrigated land.
- Irrigation standards and evaluation guidelines.
- Irrigation sensors, controls and information technologies.
- Irrigation system manufacturing and recycling.
IA welcomes and supports research on these topics by government, academia and industry firms.
Irrigation Water Management Practices & Systems
Objective: Develop more efficient and economic agriculture irrigation practices and systems that conserve natural resources, increase crop yield and quality, and benefit the environment.
Research priorities include:
- Increasing the efficiency of agriculture irrigation.
- Quantifying the effects of wind on sprinkler irrigation patterns.
- Improving irrigation system energy efficiency.
- Compiling databases for soil conditions, water supplies, crop water requirements and climate conditions.
- Capturing crop-specific water requirements.
- Determining irrigation system potential to control crop temperature.
- Defining irrigation best practices for humid areas.
- Improving techniques to manage salinity.
- Reusing and recycling drainage waters.
- Measuring the impact of agriculture irrigation on water quality.
- Documenting the ecosystem benefits of agricultural irrigation.
Wastewater Utilization on Irrigated Land
Objective: Develop irrigation technologies that use biological and chemical waste and wastewater while protecting water quality and the environment, preserving natural resources and reducing total cost.
Research priorities include:
- Identifying best practices for rural, residential, municipal, food processing and industrial waste disposal.
- Determining best practices for applying solid and liquid animal waste.
- Managing aesthetic and health considerations of wastewater utilization.
- Investigating the positive impact of agriculture irrigation on air and water pollution.
- Improving nutrient management.
Irrigation Standards & Evaluation Guidelines
Objective: Develop standards and evaluation guidelines to improve performance, operator safety and irrigation system management.
Research priorities include:
- Determining criteria for evaluating water application uniformity.
- Optimizing chemical application.
- Developing product standards that meet ANSI, ISO and European Community requirements.
- Specifying system design requirements to ensure operator safety.
- Defining equipment safety requirements for irrigation system design.
- Clarifying short- and long-term system performance requirements.
- Improving irrigation system evaluation based on seasonal versus single-event metrics.
- Developing criteria to evaluate total system areas rather than inappropriate subsets.
- Setting standards for material suitability, and chemical interactions and concentrations.
- Improving system component interchangeability.
Irrigation Sensors, Controls & Information Technologies
Objective: Promote adoption of new technologies for irrigation scheduling, system control and operation, and precision application.
Research priorities include:
- Applying field and remote sensors.
- Implementing information technologies.
- Enhancing automated control systems.
- Developing cost-effective communication systems for data exchange.
- Implementing geographic information systems for differential control of water and chemical application.
- Using global positioning systems to provide input for geographic information systems.
- Developing databases with soil, water supply, crop water requirement and climate condition information for precision irrigation.
Irrigation System Manufacturing & Recycling
Objective: Develop efficient, economic and environmentally responsible manufacturing, recovery and recycling techniques for irrigation systems and components.
Research priorities include:
- Defining appropriate component materials, and recycling and disposal techniques.
- Improving product design, manufacturing processes and product obsolescence to minimize environmental impact.
Approved November 2004, IA Board of Directors