Posts Tagged: irrigation

Kearney has a new irrigation water management specialist.

Khaled Bali, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in irrigation water management is now at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Bali has been with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources since 1992 and served in different capacities as UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Imperial County, irrigation and water management (1992-2016), UCCE county director in Imperial County (2009-2016) and two years as interim director of the UC Desert Research and Extension Center in Holtville (2012-2013 and 2014-2015).  He received his doctoral degree in soil physics from UC Davis (1992), master's degree in irrigation and drainage from UC Davis (1987), and bachelor's degree in soils and irrigation from the University of Jordan (1984). He is responsible for designing, implementing, and conducting educational and applied research programs in irrigation, drainage, water management, water quality, soil salinity, waste management, reuse of wastewater for irrigation and nonpoint source pollution control practices. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Jordan (2006-07) and conducted research on reuse of wastewater for irrigation and constructed wetlands to treat wastewater. 

Teachers observe next generation science in action on Kearney tour.

Third grade teachers from around California toured UC ANR Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center (KARE) Center July 21 during a week of Next Generation Science Standards training in nearby Reedley sponsored by the K-12 Academy and WestEd.

Led by Chuck Boldwyn, KARE superintendent of agriculture, tour stops highlighted the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) weather station, sorghum deficit irrigation trials, and how a soil weighing lysimeter measures tree and vine crops water use.

Boldwyn encouraged teachers to subscribe to California Agriculture journal. Readers in the United States can subscribe for free. Published by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR), the quarterly peer-reviewed journal reports on research, reviews and news of California's agricultural, natural and human resources. Content can be easily understood by non-specialist readers. International subscription rates are $24 a year, or $20 a year for two years or more.

Khaled Bali, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in statewide irrigation water management at KARE, explained at the weather station how the data is used for irrigation management decisions. CIMIS was developed in 1982 by the California Department of Water Resources and UC Davis. One of the first CIMIS weather stations to be put into use is still located at the UC ANR West Side Research and Extension Center in Five Points.

At a stop in a peach orchard, teachers were surprised to learn of the large weighing lysimeter just below their feet. Basically, a lysimeter is a large "flower pot" measuring 6.5 feet wide by 13 feet long by 6.5 feet deep that rests on a sensitive balance-beam weighing scale in an underground chamber. Why would you want to measure soil weight? Short-term soil weight loss is almost entirely due to water evaporation through leaves or from the soil surface. When a specific threshold is exceeded, the crop is automatically irrigated. The orchard lysimeter has also been used to study the effects of water stress on tree water use. Two lysimeters were constructed at KARE in 1986. The second lysimeter is located in a vineyard.

Comments from teachers recognized the value of the agricultural science research underway at KARE.

"I was not aware of all the research that is going on in ag."
"A great tour. I hope the Reedley teachers take advantage of having the Kearney Center so close to them."
"It was amazing to see the concepts we have been learning put to work."

 

 

Free surface irrigation efficiency workshop to be held at Kearney June 3, 2016

This workshop is designed to give growers and water managers tools and insights on how to better conduct surface irrigation activities including furrow, border and basin (flood) irrigation systems. Topics include basic system design issues, performance evaluation approaches and commonly used practices to improve the distribution uniformity and efficiency of applied water.

The agenda is: 

8:30 - 9:00 a.m.	Registration and refreshments
9:00 - 9:10 a.m.	Introductory remarks and welcome - TBD
9:10 -9:30 a.m.	Practical Application for Improving Surface Irrigation Efficiencies, Dan Munk, UCCE advisor in Fresno County
9:30 -  9:50 a.m.	Irrigation Systems and Energy Efficiency, Daniele Zaccaria, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis
9:50 - 10:10 a.m.	Improving the Efficiency of Surface Irrigation Systems,  Eduardo Bautista, USDA ARS Water Management and Conservation Research Unit at the Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Arizona
10:10 - 10:30 a.m.	Break
10:30 - 11:10 a.m.	The relationship between irrigation efficiency and field geometry, field condition, and inflow rate into the irrigated field, Eduardo Bautista, USDA-ARS
11:10 -11:30 a.m.	Understanding Irrigation Efficiency with Different Systems: How it's Defined, Why it's Important,  Khaled Bali, UCCE advisor and director in Imperial county
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Q&A

To register for the workshop or for additional information, please email or call Dan Munk or Terri Gonzalez (email:dsmunk@ucanr.edu, 559-241-7515). Event registration is optional but preferred to estimate attendance.

Our programs are open to all potential participants. Please contact the Fresno UCCE office (two weeks prior to the event) at 559-241-7515 if you have any barriers to participation requiring special accommodations.

Lawrence J. Schwankl, CE Irrigation Specialist, emeritus, receives the Irrigation Association's 2014 Person of the Year Award.

The Irrigation Association will present their 2014 Person of the Year Award to Lawrence (Larry) Schwankl at the 2014 Irrigation Show & Education Conference in Phoenix on November 20, 2014. Schwankl's distinguished 28 year career with the University of California Extension specialized in irrigation engineering, design, operation and management of irrigation systems, soil moisture monitoring, and low-volume irrigation.

“Through his well-recognized applied research program, technology transfer efforts and service activities, Dr. Schwankl has dedicated his career to developing, evaluating and promoting water-efficient technologies and irrigation best management practices,” wrote Dana Osborne Porter, Associate Professor and Extension Agricultural Engineer in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University.

 

Lawrence (Larry) Schwankl.

If you are interested in growing pomegranates while maximizing water and nitrogen use efficiency, you may want to register for a meeting that will be held at Kearney on October 2, 2014.

Individuals interested in growing pomegranates with surface or subsurface drip irrigation are invited to attend a meeting at Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension Center (KARE) on October 2, 2014, to learn about improving pomegranate fertigation and nitrogen use efficiency. To attend, a reservation made with Diana Nix at 559-46-6500, extension 0, is required.

The field day will share the results of a fertigation study at KARE that uses high frequency drip and subsurface drip irrigation/fertigation systems. Check in is at 9:30 am, presentations start at 10:00 am, and the tour of the research plot begins at 11:00 am. The meeting will adjourn at noon.

The agenda includes:

• Introduction, objectives, orchard configuration and operation
• Evapotranspiration, crop coefficient and lysimeter management
• Yields, water use efficiency, and nitrogen use efficiency
• Soil matric potential measurements and hydraulic gradient calculations in the subsurface drip irrigated lysimeter
• Tissue responses to high frequency injected nitrogen at three levels of nitrogen
• Canopy cover and leaf chlorophyll measurements
• Conclusions and questions

For additional information, please contact Kevin R. Day, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Tulare County, specializing in fresh-shipping deciduous tree fruits, cultural practices and production, fruit growth and development, pruning and training systems, at 559-684-3311, or Claude J. Phene, President of SDI Plus, at 559-298-0201.

Freshly harvested pomegranates in a bin.

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