Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762
Performing Department
Delta Research and Extension C
Non Technical Summary
Overuse of the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer for rice production has caused decline ofground and surface water, increased pumping costs, the drying of wells, and the presumption thatsustainable irrigated agriculture is not attainable in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. Thecentral hypothesis for this integrated research and Extension project is that incorporatingautomated, IoT- irrigation technologies into a low-water-use rice production system will decreasewater use while maintaining or improving rice grain yield, seed quality, and net returns across arange of climatic conditions, soil textures, and farm management philosophies. We will test ourworking hypothesis by evaluating conventional and low-water-use systems on paired fields inArkansas and Mississippi with the same cultivar, soil texture, planting date, and managementpractices. This approach is expected to produce an alternative rice production system that reduceswater use, and maintains or improves yields, seed quality and net returns across a range ofenvironments. Our Extension program will demonstrate across multiple platforms that our novel riceproduction system improves aquifer sustainability, crop productivity, and on-farm profitability,and thus reduces producer apprehension about low-water-use rice production systems. We expect thisintegrated project to achieve the Program Area Priority Code A1102 goals of increased adoption ofan innovative sustainable solution to challenges limiting productivity, profitability, and goodstewardship of natural resources and the environment.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
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 AWDwater management on rice productivity, seed quality, and water applied. The workingProject Narrative2hypothesis, based on our preliminary research, is that automating irrigation in AWD rice will decrease water applied while maintaining or improving rice grain yield and seed quality across a range of environments common to the LMRB.Determine the economic viability of coupling automated, IoT-irrigation technologies with AWD water management for environments common to the LMRB. The working hypothesis, based on our preliminary research, is that automating irrigation in AWD rice will be economically feasible for producers because the decrease in water use and/or increase in yield will offset the costs of additional technologies across a range of environments common to the LMRB.Deliver Extension programming that stimulates the adoption and proper implementation of low-water-use rice production systems and technologies.The premise for this aim is that by delivering research-based, Extension programming we will increase producer awareness about AWD rice production systems and reduce their concerns about this novel conservation practice. Consequently, we will see increased adoption of a low-water-use rice production system that improves rice productivity, on-farm profitability, and aquifer sustainability.
Project Methods
We will conduct research from 2023 through 2025 in the Delta regions of Arkansas and Mississippi and the prairie region of Arkansas at 9 sites per year, each consisting of adjacent fields with the same cultivar, soil texture, planting date, and management practices. Drs. Reba and Massey will manage the Arkansas Deltalocations, while Dr. Henry will manage the Arkansas prairie site. Drs. Gholson and Spencer willmanage the Mississippi sites. Evaluated production systems will include the following:1. Control, where irrigation is established and maintained via water entering the field in theuppermost paddy and cascaded into subsequent rice paddies via gravity flow through a levee gate setat 10 cm above the soil surface.2. AWD coupled with automated, IoT-irrigation technology, whereby the flood subsides after eachirrigation resulting in alternating cycles of saturated and unsaturated soil conditionsAutomated, IoT-technology will continuously monitor paddy water level and automaticallyinitiate and terminate irrigations according toprescribed water level thresholds.Prior to flood establishment, our team will place a McCrometer flow tube with attached Mc®Propellerbolt-on saddle flowmeter (McCrometer, Hemet, CA) at the inlet of each field to monitor irrigationwater applied. For each field, rice yield and milling quality will be determined using a commercialcombine equipped with an on-board, calibrated yield monitor. Additionally, from the top, middle,and bottom of every field, we will manually collect mature rice plants from three 1-m2 areas. Grainyields will be normalized to 14%. Milling quality of each hand harvested sample will be determinedby the Mississippi State University milling facility located at the DREC-Stoneville.Agronomic and water use data will be analyzed using analysis of variance procedures in SAS(Statistical Analytical System Release 9.4; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). In concert with thecentral hypothesis, we will investigate the stability and resilience of integrating automated, IoT-irrigation-technologies with AWD water management. We will employ techniques such as analysis ofcovariance to elucidate the effects of climatic conditions, soil textures, and management practices.Objective 2:The approach for this objective is to use partial budgeting analysis tocompare net returns of an automated AWD system to a conventional system. Partial budgeting is a common approach used to determine the economically optimal strategy. At each field in the experiment, we will calculate costs and returns to determine net returns. This approach will allow us to examine whether moving from a conventional system to the automated AWD system will be profitable.For the automated AWD system, costs will include irrigation costs (e.g. polypipe), costs of implementing an AWD system (e.g. sensors), and costs of automation equipment (e.g. telemetry). We will determine irrigation costs using water usage, labor, and irrigation supplies from a given field and converting these to a per-hectare cost. We have used this method to calculate irrigation costs for Mississippi State University's annual rice planning budgets. We expect the irrigation costs of this system to be significantly lower than that of the conventional system. We will calculate the costs of implementing an AWD system by identifying the costs of the AWD system that vary from that of a conventional system. The time and numbers of persons associated with the installation, calibration/validation, repair, and removal of the irrigation automation equipment will be tracked by the researchers at each field location. We will calculatethe costs of automation by amortizing the initial costs of installation over the system's lifespan to get a per-hectare, per-year cost.In the conventional system, costs will include irrigation costs and other associated costs. The irrigation costs will be determined by the amount of water usage, labor, and irrigation supplies required to get a per-hectare cost. Other associated costs will be determined given the production practices used in each field and converting to a per-hectare cost. These costs are not found in an AWD system. We expect that the costs of the conventional system will be either higher or like those of the automated AWD system.We will determine revenue using yield obtained from each field and multiplying by the price of rice. Sensitivity analysis of various prices will be used to determine the break-even rice price of automated AWD. From this we will examine if a minimum price is needed for automated AWD to be profitable. Based on our previous research, our expectation is that the revenue for the automated AWD will be greater or equal to that of a conventional system.Net returns will be determined by subtracting the associated costs from revenue for both automated AWD and conventional systems. These will then be compared across all fields to determine the profitability of automated AWD. Further examination will explore if this profitability changes across different climatic conditions, soil textures, and farm management practices. As this technology is new, there is currently no economic evaluation of its benefits. This approach will allow for this evaluation and give producers the ability to make an informeddecision on whether or not it is profitable to adopt.Objective 3:The microsite will function as the data and information repository for conservation productionsystems research in the LMRB. The microsite will be linked with the Mississippi Crop Situation blog(www.mississippi-crops.com) and the Mississippi Crop Situation podcast which average 434 and 1,142views a day, respectively.In preliminary survey work conducted by our team, it was noted that farmers differ in how they wantto receive information. Therefore, diverse technology transfer materials and Extension programmingwill be developed and delivered through standard Mississippi State University Extension techniques.The crops team has a proven track record of success, and we anticipate capitalizing on thisnetwork. The overall annual cumulative contacts through various methods are: 1) ExtensionSpecialist-to-farmer personal contact via text (10,000 contacts/yr per Extension Specialist), phonecall (6,000 to 10,000 contacts/yr per Extension Specialist), and on- farm site visit (100 to 150contacts/yr per Extension Specialist), 2) electronic resources including the Mississippi CropSituation blog (158,000 contacts/yr) and the Mississippi Crop Situation podcast (416,830contacts/yr), 3) field days (5 to 10 events/year with 25 farmer/event), county meetings (25 events/yr 20 to 25 farmers/event), crop consultant meetings (2 to 4 events/yr 80 cropconsults/event), and the Row-Crop Short Course (750 farmers/yr).A farmer-to-farmer network composed of 25 leaders from the LMRB will be created and supported bythe private sector. Farm Bureau Federation staff from Arkansas and Mississippi will assist in theselection of farmers to be placed in the network. Participants for the farmer-to- farmer networkwill be recruited from Arkansas and Mississippi Farm Bureau Federations and state rice boards.Private sector cooperators will include Horizon Ag, RiceTec, Riceland, Delta Plastics, and ValleyIrrigation. We will host meetings at demonstration sites during the growing season and conductoutreach in conjunction with the Mississippi State University Row-Crop Short Course, the ArkansasSoil and Water Educational Conference, and the NationalConservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference.