Demonstrating Interactions between Reduced Tillage, Soil Water Storage, and Nutrient Leaching under Water Limited Irrigated Cropping Systems

Factors such as growing global population and climate variability are increasing demand for water. Looking into the future, agriculture, the dominant fresh water user around the world will be required to produce more food with less water. This increase in food production is expected to come primarily from irrigated agriculture. In the United States Great Plains, producers are already experiencing problems of limited water supplies for irrigation due to Ogallala Aquifer depletion. Economies of many rural communities in the Central Plains rely heavily on irrigated agriculture, including confined cattle feeding operations, beef packing and agro-input businesses. However, with declining water supplies the future of irrigated agriculture in the Great Plains is uncertain. The goal when working with limited water is to capture and store every possible source of water in the production system. In the Great Plains these sources of water include rainfall, snowfall and irrigation water. Reduced tillage coupled with residue management have been proven in several studies to increase available soil water by reducing soil water loss from tillage operations, reduction in soil water evaporation and enhancing infiltration. This project will leverage advances in sensor and information technology to demonstrate proven benefits of reduced tillage on soil water storage using physical and virtual on-farm demonstrations.