Californias Industry
5 Main types of Irrigation
Flood Irrigation
Highest produced using flood are almonds, peaches,
walnuts, rice, alfalfa
Advantages- inexpensive, less labor,rodent control
Disadvantages
-Land must be levelled or contoured-Use large amounts
of water, water lost through evaporation, May cause
disease in some crops if applied incorrectly.
Furrow Irrigation
Used in row crops such as beans, tomatoes, corn, sugar
beets and other vegetable crops. Similar advantages and
disadvantages to flood irrigation
Sprinkler Irrigation
Many types of micro sprinklers, salts, aluminum pipe
Advantages: Uses less water, more precise amounts of
water can be applied, less runoff, may be used on
slightly hilly land .
Disadvantages-Expensive and salt buildup
Drip irrigation
Used on specific crops, such as grapes, trees, almonds,
cherries and peaches.
Advantages:Uses less water- very precise amount as well
as fertilizer.
Disadvantages: expensive to install
Sub Irrigation
A method of irrigation where water is delivered to the
plant root zone. The excess may be collected for reuse.
Advantages: Evaporation is reduced,The amount of
water can be fine-tuned.
Disadvantages: Risk of clogging, when saline water is
used, salts accumulate at the wetting front emitter can
be damaged or blocked by root hairs.
Irrigation
Importance of Irrigation
Irrigation is vital to Californias agricultural industry, Irrigation Facts
because without current Irrigation tactics Overall, 42% of California agriculture uses drip
everything would be much less effecient. Irrigation irrigation, 43% flood irrigation and 15% sprinklers.
helps to grow agricultural crops, maintain
About half the 60 million acres of irrigated land in the
landscapes, and revegetate disturbed soils in dry
United States use flood irrigation
areas and during periods of less than average
rainfall.
Over 400,000 acres in California, about 6 percent of
cropland, was left unused because of the drought in
2014.
In California, almond trees cover nearly 1 million acres
and consume 1.07 trillion gallons of water per year
California produces two-thirds of the country’s fruits
and nuts and farmers sold almost $50 billion of food in
2013.
Flood Irrigation
Flood Irrigation is my choice of
Irrigation. It is most commonly
used to grow almonds, peaches,
walnuts, rice,and alfalfa.
.