The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) partnered with the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District (HPWD) and six other underground water districts for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, known as RCPP, to help farmers remotely monitor soil moisture.
Greg Sokora, NRCS civil engineer in Lubbock, said the RCPP consists of a soil moisture monitoring system that measures the amount of moisture in the ground. A telemetry receiver, much like a cellphone tower, is placed either at the pivot or in the field allowing farmers to receive up-to-date soil moisture information every 15 minutes to an hour on their smartphones, tablets or home computers.
“Water flow meters and chemigation valves are the high priority practices in the RCPP program,” Sokora said.
Brandt Underwood, NRCS conservation agronomist in Lubbock, said the RCPP program is going to help farmers match their irrigation scheduling closer to their crop water needs by using the most advanced soil moisture monitoring technology available.
“I would call [the RCPP program] a three-way partnership between us, the landowner, and the contractor,” Underwood said. “It’s beneficial for us all to work together. What NRCS is doing is providing some technical and financial assistance. When we’re done, we have a quality installation and a quality practice on a piece of land that will help us increase that conservation level on that farm.”
Jason Coleman, general manager for HPWD, said he sees a possibility for the continuation of the program if it is as successful as producers believe it to be. He said there is roughly $2 million for the next five years to allow producers an opportunity to utilize those funds for some of the areas of water conservation and water management.
“It would be nice if this program is as successful as we believe it will be, and that this partnership program remains available through USDA,” Coleman said.
Coleman said through the program, the HPWD hopes to offer services and assistance to producers and well owners, specifically for producers with flow tests. Coleman said those services are aimed at educating and helping people understand changing water levels and changing water conditions on their properties. This allows the farmers to leverage that information with the equipment to better manage water resources on their properties.
Underwood said this program is designed to assist farmers with more opportunity to build on their existing management for irrigation scheduling.
“Depending on how a farmer has set up his operation determine how many flow meters he will need,” Underwood said. “Sprinkler systems are designed to run at a certain number of gallons per minute, and it’s hard to manage what you can’t measure. A flow meter is just another tool to help them manage what they’ve got.”
This program is also helping the environment in relation to managing water resources. Sokora said this program is pertinent to West Texas and water resources in the area.
“Saving water: That’s the big intent,” Sokora said, “That’s our intent, that’s the groundwater district’s intent.”
“If a farmer can stop two irrigations — one at the beginning of the season and one at the end of the season — he would have left that much more water in the aquifer,” said Sokora.
Coleman said farmers who want to sign up for the RCPP program may go to their local USDA-NRCS offices and inquire about the program. Sokora said there’s been heavy interest despite the program just beginning.
“I think it’s got off to a good start,” Sokora said. “There’s been a lot of outreach. A lot of the water districts had a waiting list for people to apply…we’re looking forward to a good sign up. There’s a lot of interest in that. Farmers have to save everything they can with the water and the energy and the money that they save by not pumping water.”