Mechanical Structures for Farm Irrigation

The water facilities and management practices used by the individual farmer are extremely important factors and have a significant effect upon irrigation water use. Considerable effort is being made to improve irrigation practices by developing better surface irrigation methods and equipment. Mechanized systems with automated control structures enable the farmer to apply water more efficiently and with a minimum of labor. These structures automatically terminate irrigation on one portion of a field or farm and direct the water to another section. It is common practice in many areas to use either 12-hr or 24-hr irrigation sets because it is convenient to change the water only once or twice each day. Often an irrigation of less than 12 hr or between 12 hr and 24 hr is sufficient to refill the root zone. The available water supply can serve a larger area if water can be changed from one set to another at the optimum time without attention. Many farms can use automatic structures without extensive modifications to present systems. Mechanical, automatic irrigation structures being developed at the USDA Snake River Conservation Research Center do not require an external power source for operation and include simple timer-controlled structures. These are being tested in automatic cutback furrow, conventional furrow, graded border, basin, contour ditch, and recirculating systems.