November 7, 2002

Irrigation Workshops set for Carrington and Bismarck

During this summer’s drought in the southern counties of North Dakota, farmers with irrigated crops had good production but those with dryland crops watched them wilt away. "One way to ensure consistent crop production during a drought is to use irrigation," says Thomas Scherer, North Dakota State University Extension agricultural engineer.

The NDSU Extension Service will hold two irrigation workshops this fall to inform North Dakota producers on the fundamentals of irrigation as well as advanced information for established irrigators.

The first workshop is Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the NDSU Carrington Research/Extension Center (3 miles north of Carrington on highway 83). This workshop will be aimed towards new irrigators or people exploring the option of adding irrigation to their farm operation. According to Scherer, topics will focus on irrigation fundamentals including: identifying irrigable soils, locating a adequate water supply, water quality necessary for irrigation, obtaining a water permit, selecting irrigation equipment, irrigation water management, the economics of irrigation and high value crop opportunities.

The second workshop is on Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Best Western Ramkota Inn (formerly the Radisson Inn) in Bismarck. This workshop, sponsored the NDSU Extension Service, the Missouri Slope Irrigation Development Association, the North Dakota Irrigation Caucus and the North Dakota Water Users, will focus on topics of importance to experienced irrigators. Some of these topics include maintenance and performance of irrigation wells, design of pump intakes from shallow water sources, uniformity of sprinkler systems, irrigated alfalfa, processing alfalfa, GMO crops, feed quality of CRP hay, and an update on the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP).

Registration for each workshop will begin at 8 a.m. Registration fee is $10 at Carrington and $20 at the Bismarck workshop. The number of Certified Crop Advisor Continuing Education Units available to participants will be announced on the day of the workshop.

A copy of the program for each workshop can be viewed at the NDSU Extension Agricultural and Biosystem Engineering Web site at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/upcoming.htm. For more information contact the NDSU Extension Agricultural and Biosystem Engineering at (701) 231-7238 or your county extension office.

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Source: Thomas Scherer (701) 231-7239, tscherer@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Writer: Deana Oe (701) 231- 8371, deana.oe@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu