Life After the Flood: Disrupting Rice Farming by Integrating Automated, IoT-Irrigation Technologies into a Low-Water-Use Production System

Investigators:

Funding Agency: USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Date: 2021

Project Summary

Overuse of the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer for rice production has caused decline of ground and surface water, increased pumping costs, the drying of wells, and the presumption that sustainable irrigated agriculture is not attainable in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. The central hypothesis for this integrated research and Extension project is that incorporating automated, IoT- irrigation technologies into a low-water-use rice production system will decrease Report Date 11/10/2021 Page 1 of 6 United States Department of Agriculture Project Initiation Accession No. 1028153 Project No. MIS-153270 water use while maintaining or improving rice grain yield, seed quality, and net returns across a range of climatic conditions, soil textures, and farm management philosophies. We will test our working hypothesis by evaluating conventional and low-water-use systems on paired fields in Arkansas and Mississippi with the same cultivar, soil texture, planting date, and management practices. This approach is expected to produce an alternative rice production system that reduces water use, and maintains or improves yields, seed quality and net returns across a range of environments. Our Extension program will demonstrate across multiple platforms that our novel rice production system improves aquifer sustainability, crop productivity, and on-farm profitability, and thus reduces producer apprehension about low-water-use rice production systems. We expect this integrated project to achieve the Program Area Priority Code A1102 goals of increased adoption of an innovative sustainable solution to challenges limiting productivity, profitability, and good stewardship of natural resources and the environment.

Goals / Objectives:

Our long-term goal is to enhance the resilience of irrigated agriculture in the LMRB by developing productive and profitable low water-use, row-crop production systems that will be adopted by producers. The overall objective for this project, which is the next step toward our long-term goal, is to determine the effects of integrating automated, IoT-irrigation technologies into an AWD rice production system on water use, rice productivity, and economic viability. The central hypothesis for this project is that combining these tools with a low-water-use system will decrease water applied while maintaining or improving rice grain yield, seed quality, and net returns across a range of climatic conditions, soil textures, and farm management philosophies. This hypothesis was formulated based on research in which AWD decreased water applied while having no adverse effect on yield or net returns on fine-textured soils. Our interdisciplinary team comprised of agronomists, hydrologists, agricultural economists, and irrigation engineers from Mississippi State University, University of Arkansas, and USDA-ARS is uniquely qualified to successfully complete this research. We have seven years of AWD experience and conducted the foundational work for the establishment of safe AWD for fine-textured soils in Mississippi. Moreover, we have cultivated a network of over 20 stakeholders in the LMRB who are willing to implement AWD production systems for this study.

We plan to address our central hypothesis by pursuing the following specific objectives:

1. Quantify the effects of integrating automated, IoT-irrigation technologies with AWD water management on rice productivity, seed quality, and water applied.
2. Determine the economic viability of coupling automated, IoT-irrigation technologies with AWD water management for environments common to the LMRB.
3. Deliver Extension programming that stimulates the adoption and proper implementation of low-water-use rice production systems and technologies.

• Crop Type:
• Rice

• Topic:
• Irrigation Scheduling
• Technologies
• Irrigation