The Impact of Farm Size on Irrigation Practices and On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District Rhonda Skaggs & Zohrab Samani New Mexico State University

Structure of U.S. Agriculture Majority of production on few farms Off-farm work Retirement or residential/lifestyle farms –54% of all U.S. farms –7.8% of value of production Urban fringe agriculture Irrigated river valleys in the West

Irrigation in the West 92% of consumptive water use Increased competition for water supplies –Municipal –Industrial –Environmental Increased irrigation efficiency? –Technologies or techniques

Elephant Butte Irrigation District Irrigated farms increased 70%, Growth in small farms, urban fringe Dualistic structure pecan production This research… –Relationship between farm size & irrigation practices, efficiency –Potential responses to incentives & water marketing –Data for 340 pecan orchards

Irrigation Duration… Hours / acre / irrigation Indicator of irrigation efficiency –Deep percolation losses Long durations due to –Highly permeable soils –Low discharge at farm turnout (infrastructure) –Surface roughness, unleveled fields Guideline = 0.5 hrs/ac/irrigation

Field Verification Low flows Small on-farm turnouts Long fields, rough surfaces Inadequate infrastructure Easements, access, common property Irrigation ≈Recreation ≈Tradition ≈Lifestyle ≈Meditation

Findings… Overdelivery to small farms Underdelivery to large farms Delivery losses or on-farm application? Small orchard nut production –161 lbs / acre-foot Large orchard nut production –300 lbs / acre-foot

Next step… Not feasible to survey producers More field measurements & “conversations” with water users Programming models for different farms –“They don’t want to spend any money.” –“I’m retired, what else have I got to do?” –“I like to listen to the water.” Objective functions?

EBID Distribution of Crops