· Examine available water resources including ponds and natural surface water as well as ground water.
——— Kelly Garrett prefers to boost corn and soybean yields with existing acres rather than buy more land.
To do so, the northwest Iowa grower is investing in infrastructure – in his case, subsurface drip irrigation (SDI).
After installing SDI on 78 acres in 2015 and adding 70 bushels to his yields, he added another 190 acres for the 2016 season.
Garrett says he is getting a four times rate of return on irrigated acres compared to dryland acres after the costs of SDI are taken out of the equation.
Corn yield winner Garrett had the high yield in Iowa for the No-Till/Strip-Till Irrigated division in the 2016 National Corn Yield Contest with a yield of 289.72 bushels.
You make the investment in water and fertilizer, but you still have to manage it."
According to Netafim agronomist Tim Wolf, growers like Garrett are on the cusp of a change in thinking about irrigation, and SDI.
In the past few years he has seen a shift in thinking and adoption of SDI.
Growers want to stabilize yield and deliver nutrients more efficiently."