Irrigation alternatives

While Mother Nature provided area fields with some natural irrigation Monday evening, irrigation and soil conservation were some of the topics discussed at a tour of area fields.

The tour was conducted by Paul Hay, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cooperative Extension educator, and Dave Clabaugh, manager of the Lower Big Blue Natural Resources District, as a way to honor how agriculture has affected Beatrice in the past 150 years.

“We're trying to give people a lookout of what's happening to agriculture in the area,” Hay said. “These tours are something the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce has talked about for some time, but I just never got it done until now.”

Hay said one of the unique features of Gage County is that only 22 percent of crops in the county are irrigated, compared to an average of 70 percent throughout the state.

The main reason for this, according to Hay, is that natural sources of groundwater are scarce throughout the county. He said the only areas where irrigation really occurs is near DeWitt, Pickrell and Odell.

Clabaugh commented all one has to do to learn about groundwater problems in the county is to come to one of the NRD's monthly meetings.

“One lady mentioned at our last NRD meeting she has three wells on her place along with a lot of dry holes,” Clabaugh said.

Because irrigation is not an option for the majority of Gage County farmers, Clabaugh said regular crop rotation and no-till planting have become popular options for farmers. In the county, approximately 75 percent of farmers use the no-till option.

“In the wheat fields, just by using the wheat stubble and killing the weeds, you can go into the field next spring with a lot of benefits from the extra stored moisture,” Clabaugh said. “With corn, by doing this, you can expect the yields to be 25 bushels higher than usual just with the bean stubble or remains from other crops.”

Hay said there are three advantages of using the no-till planting method.

First, by leaving the stubble from the previous year's crop on the field, the soil can collect any remaining moisture from the previous year's crop.

Also, the stubble forms a canopy that keeps the soil from forming a hard crust that can block moisture from reaching the soil.

Finally, the canopy essentially forms a shield that keeps the soil moisture from evaporating.

“It has a dramatic effect on plants and water for our usage,” Hay said. “It probably even has an effect on the amount of water in the Big Blue River, and that becomes an issue all the time.”

Another option that area farmers use is installing terraces that prevent soil runoff and erosion during heavy storms. This can be expensive, however, as Clabaugh said the average cost to have terraces made is about $180 per acre.

The cost is roughly doubled for farmers who choose to have tile lines put in to drain excess soil moisture into waterways after heavy rains.

Hay commented farmers have become more interested in soil conservation in recent years as they have realized that the upfront costs often return benefits in the future.

“In the 1930s, whenever we would receive a heavy rain, all of the soil in fields would just be washed off,” Hay said.

“As a result, farmers would often work the soil three times in a season to compensate. At the time, that was thought to be state-of-the-art farming.”

With the increased popularity of no-till farming, Hay said farmers are able to farm more acres because the no-till method doesn't require as much field work.

Because of this, families no longer necessarily just farm where they live and often have several fields they maintain. Hay said statistics show 50 to 60 percent of the rural homes in Gage County are acreages with the farmland maintained by others.

However, Hay said while no-till farming has allowed farmers to have larger farms, this can often be necessary as expenses for such things as terrace and waterway construction can cut into a farmer's profit.

On average, Hay said a farmer needs to farm between 1,200 and 1,500 acres to make a profit.

“Farming is not for the lighthearted,” Hay said.