Water ​Technology ​Farms in Kansas

Farms on the Kansas High Plains have long produced a bevy of crops and livestock, from wheat and corn to cattle and hogs. Now, a new type of operation is taking root in the southwest and northwest parts of the state called water technology farms .

Last year, Tom Willis established the first of what are now 15 water technology farms in Kansas on his grain and forage operation, T&O Farms, LLC, based near Garden City.

The lofty goal is one of Willis’ personal efforts to help preserve the Ogallala Aquifer, which fuels crop growth on the High Plains via irrigation. Research indicates that with current water use rates, the aquifer will be 70% depleted by 2064.

Some of the technologies Willis is evaluating include:

• Using telemetry to determine water incorporation in the soil and crop root growth and structure;
• Evaluating different crops and crop rotations, including the use of cover crops and cattle;
• Comparing a precision mobile drip irrigation system (PMDI), branded as Dragon-Line, to traditional center pivot irrigation using low-pressure spray nozzles.

So far, Willis and his advisors say the research program is working as they had hoped.

“In 2016, in terms of efficiency, we saw 27% less evaporation with the mobile drip irrigation than with traditional pivot irrigation,” says Jonathan Aguilar, Kansas State Extension water resource engineer and a technical advisor for some of the farms. 

The Dragon-Line precision mobile drip irrigation system uses hoses to deliver water to the soil where it's quickly absorbed by thirsty plants.
© Teeter Irrigation Inc.

Willis says the No. 1 benefit he gained from the PMDI system last year was a 10% to 15% savings in fertilizer. “I put most of my fertilizer on through the pivot, and with the Dragon-Line I didn’t lose it to evaporation or wind as a result.”

With the Dragon-Line PDMI system, hoses are retrofitted to the center pivot, in place of nozzles. The pivot then drags the hoses through the crop, which slowly dribble water onto the soil as they go.

Source: AG Web

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