Using every drop

Two inches of rain from the time the corn was planted until the end of July. Seems like a tough row to hoe even with the help of irrigation.

Ford County, Kansas, farmer Gary Harshberger took it one step further and signed up his field to be part of a water conservation area and water technology farm, tightening his water “belt” even further.

According to the Kansas Department of Agriculture, a WCA is a designated area with an approved management plan developed by a water right owner or group of water right owners with the consent of the chief engineer to reduce water withdrawals while maintaining economic value via water right flexibility.

“We’re making every bit of benefit that we can with every drop you’re putting on,” Harshberger said of his WCA plan and irrigation technology implemented on his circle south of Dodge City, Kansas. Harshberger was the last stop in a tour of water tech field days put on by Kansas State University Research and Extension, Kansas Corn Commission and the Kansas Water Office.

Jeff Lanterman, water commissioner for KDA’s Stafford field office, said all the credit for this particular WCA goes to Harshberger. The proposal is a first for his 26-county office.

“Ford County has some of the most concerning water level declines in my field office, so anything we can do to save water is super encouraged,” Lanterman said. “That’s more than just encouraged.”

In Harshberger’s plan, one of six proposed in Kansas currently, it allows him some flexibility and conservation along with using water technology. It’s a three-year WCA and is based on 10 percent of past average use. Past average on this particular farm is about 200 acre-feet, though Harshberger is proposing 180 acre-feet saved for this WCA.

“Now he’s not really asking for any additional flexibility here, other than carry over,” Lanterman said. “So if he saves some water in his allocation, then he can carry some of that over up to his past average use, I believe.”

Lanterman said Harshberger’s 10 percent reduction in water use equates to 542 acre-feet, or roughly 56 percent of his authorized quantity.

“And that’s going to roll into about 60 acre-feet of savings over this period,” Lanterman said. “So the technology we see here we hope it’ll be able to be as profitable as it always has been in the past, just do it with a lot less water.”

That’s what Harshberger is aiming for.

“The whole idea here is to show we can do more with less and I think we demonstrated it,” he said. “Technology is technology. There’s growing pains. We’ll learn more. We’ll get this figured out for sure.”

He’s hoping his successful trial in the first year can spread through the region and show an idea like this can work in southwest Kansas.

“These tech farms are there to show you it can work if you’ll just do it,” Harshberger said. “The whole idea with tech farms and water conservation areas is to start getting producers to break down their phobias knowing they can do more with less.”

Harshberger has put in three drip systems across his farm this year, and has been running AquaSpy moisture probes for about three years. He’s experimented with his nozzles and DragonLine to dial it down, using the least amount of water possible. He’s hoping the reduction in water use can be demonstrated when his corn crop is harvested, that he’s indeed doing more with less.

Harshberger hasn’t pumped all he’s allowed because he doesn’t need to. He’s re-drilled some wells on other properties and he wants the new wells to last.

This year has been a true test on the water technologies Harshberger is using. The particular 160-acre circle in the proposed WCA had very little rain since planting.

“To me this is an excellent test because honestly on this spot right here, was the driest part the whole summer,” he said. “I think we’ve had 2 inches of rain on this circle since it was planted until the last of July.”

Late summer rains gave him 2 more inches, and moisture probes showed the dips in precipitation levels. Charts showed the near depletion later in August, until he got another “big rain.”

Keeping the corn watered with the technology wasn’t without its hiccups, Harshberger admitted.

Harshberger and his team were trying to push some of the technologies to their limits and were determined to figure out the problems. They worked on filtration of the water as algae was getting into the DragonLine, and put chlorinators in to help as well. He also chose specific hybrids by Pioneer Seed designed to take advantage of the limited water. Encirca Pro was used to monitor crop health from the sky.

They were able to tell from the probes and the Encirca that even though the soil moisture reserves were starting to get depleted, the corn crop was still holding on.

“And it was fine. So we knew we were OK,” Harshberger said. “We don’t know what our yields are going to be but we think it’s going to look fine. You don’t see any stress out there, that looks like normal corn, and I think you’ll see that as you go though the whole field.”

He’s anxious to see how it turns out at the end of the season.

By the looks of it, Harshberger said it may appear he got “bailed out” at the end of the season with the two bigger rain events, but that really wasn’t the case. The corn was already mature, but the extra rain could help finish the crop off.

“But if this is ever a test on water conservation areas, tech farms and putting that water right on the ground, I think this is probably the toughest we’ve gone through just because we didn’t have much beneficial rain during the growing season,” Harshberger said.

And for Harshberger, he’s learned two things. The Encirca was eye-opening as far as plant health. The images show him crop conditions over the whole field. The second was how to monitor the moisture probes.

“The times it rains, the moisture probe is telling you the story in your field,” he said.

Harshberger also uses a crop consultant, and between the consultant, the moisture probes and the Encirca, he’s got a pretty keen eye on what’s going on in this particular field.

“We’re seeing what’s happening there, and that gives us all the information we need to make that determination when we can shut those systems off and when we can’t,” he said.”

He hopes by taking advantage of the WCA and the programs the state offers for water conservation, he can convince other producers systems like this work. Harshberger realizes he can do more with less, and is pleased to be a part of this learning process.

“When we cut this we’re going to know. This is the first year for it, and we’re going to start building the history of understanding,” Harshberger said. “We’ve always done a rotation here to keep our water use low, but we do that also for plant health. By doing that we cut our cost of production, and disease and weeds and all that, that’s where we need to be.”

For more information about the WCA proposals and agreements visit agriculture.ks.gov/divisions-programs/dwr/managing-kansas-water-resources/wca.

Kylene Scott can be reached at 620-227-1804 or [email protected].