The use pattern of irrigation practices by Arkansas producers.
Abstract
Using data from the 2016 Arkansas Irrigation Survey, this study documents the use pattern of irrigation practices including both irrigation technologies and water management practices (WMPs) by Arkansas producers. The WMPs have four groups: field management, water flow control, water recovery/storage and advanced irrigation scheduling practices. The most prevalent group of WMPs is field management practices. Nearly 85% of the producers use one or more WMPs in this group. The least prevalent group is irrigation scheduling practices, which only 16% of the sample producers use. About 77% of the producers use WMPs from two or more groups. The use patterns reveal a possible hierarchy of WMPs: field management is considered first and water flow control is the next in line before water recovery/storage is considered. Advanced irrigation scheduling comes last, probably due to its late arrival in the pool of available WMPs. Conservation programs should encourage the use of a package of WMPs to manage multiple aspects of irrigation.