Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River.

 

Smart Farming: Enhancing Potato Growth with Sustainable Water Practices

The allotment of scarce resources, particularly water, has always been one of the biggest challenges in agriculture. This is especially true in the modern day since a changing climate and steadily increasing populations have made water sustainability a major priority for local farmers. Washington farmers are doing their part by focusing on smart farming practices. That means using strategic and innovative methods for reducing water consumption while enhancing the growth of one of our most important staple crops: potatoes.

Potatoes are among the most cost-effective and versatile foods grown in the United States, but their success as a crop depends greatly on having access to enough water to thrive. In the following blog post, we’ll discuss a few of the water management strategies and irrigation techniques that potato farmers in Washington are utilizing. We’ll also explain how we’ve begun to incorporate advanced technologies to adapt to the challenges of modern agriculture.

Where Does Our Water Come From?

Here in Washington, the Columbia River is a major source of water used in irrigation. The largest river in the Pacific Northwest, the Columbia makes up nearly the entirety of the Washington/Oregon border. To supply water for the irrigation of local crops, water from this river is diverted by the Grand Coulee Dam as part of the Columbia Basin Project. The sheer size of the Columbia means that it can provide tens of millions of gallons of water to serve the needs of the state of Washington. In fact, only about 4 percent   of the river’s water is diverted for agriculture.

Washington also utilizes groundwater and runoff from rain and snowpack to provide sources of irrigation for locally grown produce. The current need to focus on water sustainability has also led farmers to employ methods such as water recycling, in which wastewater is treated, filtered, and disinfected so that it can be used for the irrigation of crops.

Despite this seeming abundance of water sources, it remains important for the state of Washington to focus on conservation in order to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of a growing population. Greater demand for usable water has led to increased costs for this critical natural resource. Maintaining a thriving local economy depends on allocating natural resources wisely and fairly.

Soil Moisture Monitoring

Staple crops, including potatoes, have very specific irrigation needs. Overwatering can be both detrimental to the crop itself and wasteful for the growers and the local economy. Underwatering, on the other hand, is equally harmful, as it can lead to a less productive and less healthy crop.

Farmers are now bringing advanced technologies into use to prevent problems like the ones mentioned above. One of the ways they do this is by using soil moisture monitoring techniques. These work through the installation of sensors in the ground. The sensors are able to directly measure the moisture content in the soil using devices such as tensiometers.

The information gathered by the sensors is transmitted to a computer. Software installed on the computer then interprets the data and makes recommendations with regard to irrigation needs. Farmers can use this information to plan their water usage in a way that is more efficient and effective.

This is 4% as of 2024

Updated! Do you have a link to a particular resource we can include? Otherwise, I can just remove this one since this article still says 6 percent. @holly.tri@digitalmarkgroup.com

Precision Irrigation

Modern-day precision irrigation practices reduce a great deal of waste by developing targeted methods for providing water to potato crops. With the help of computer software, farmers are now able to precisely determine which areas require water at any given time and which do not. They can also track the growth of the crops in real time, allowing them to spot any problem areas and address them before they lead to more serious concerns.

Precision irrigation practices also allow farmers to eliminate inefficiencies in the irrigation process by designing highly accurate maps of their farms. This is done by once again utilizing advanced technologies, such as GPS surveying and custom software.

Modern potato farms also sometimes make use of automated irrigation systems to reduce waste during the process of watering crops. For potato yields to thrive, it’s often critical to provide precise amounts at specifically chosen intervals. Automation allows farmers to achieve this far more easily and with greatly reduced incidences of error.

Drip and Pivot Systems

Traditional methods of providing water to potato crops have always been somewhat haphazard: Usually, they just involve saturating the crops, the soil, and the surrounding area with vast amounts of water. This is neither the most effective nor the most efficient method of irrigation, as it generates a great deal of waste without actually maximizing the fertility and yield of targeted crops.

One method for reducing unnecessary water usage is called drip irrigation, which utilizes tubing installed directly on the ground and up against the target crops. When the system is activated, water is pumped exactly where it needs to go, eliminating the need to saturate the crop in its entirety.

Center pivot systems are also an excellent way for farmers to reduce overall water usage while still ensuring their crops are properly hydrated. By utilizing a rotating pipe that turns around a central pivot point (hence the name), they are able to provide only the amount of water necessary for a specific crop and no more.

Not only do these methods allow farmers to more easily meet the particular needs of their crops, but they also help to reduce runoff. In turn, this helps decrease the amount of fertilizer and pesticide that ends up in the local environment, making this method an eco-friendly option for environmentally conscious farmers.

To Learn More

For more information about water sustainability and other sustainable farming practices, visit the Washington Potatoes website. The growers in our commission are proactively taking steps to reduce not only water usage but also our carbon footprint, and keep toxic chemicals out of the environment through methods such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In doing so, we are leading the charge for farmers across the world to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly future.