Documenting Irrigation Efficiency for Cotton via the Arkansas Discovery Farms

Arkansas agriculture is facing a critical water uissue as large cones of depression are forming in the Mississippi Alluvial aquifer that underlies most of Eastern Arkansas.  Crop irrigation is considered the largest user of groundeater in Arkansas.  Becoming more efficieint with furrow irrigation represents the most cost-effective and timeliest approach to conserving groundwater withdrawals to meet a sustainable yield.  Water use associated with seveal  water conserving practices such as mointoring ET with Atmometers for irriagtion scheduling, use of computerized hole selection for polypipe (i.e PHAUCET or Pipe Planner) and the use of surge valves to control applications are being docuemnted on the Arkansas Cotton Discovery Farm.  Methods and results will be discussed.