B832: The Profitability of Supplemental Irrigation for Maine Potatoes (original) (raw)
Related papers
2006
Irrigation in the era of "best management practices" requires the simultaneous achievement of effective water use for profitable production and environmental protection. Irrigation in excess of crop use should be minimized due to the risk of leaching of nitrate and pesticide residues towards groundwater and the risk of runoff losses of sediment and nutrients to surface water. Excessive irrigation promotes potato diseases. Yet potato is a shallow rooted, water stress sensitive crop. Water deficits reduce tuber yields and quality. Tuber quality parameters that are influenced by water stress include tuber grade, specific gravity, heat necrosis, susceptibility to bruise, hollow heart, translucent-end, jelly end rot, and the dark color of fried strips and chips. Tuber grade, as determined by shape, smoothness, and freedom from visible defects such as growth cracks, dumbbells, and knobs, is highly sensitive to irrigation management deficiencies. Together these tuber responses to deficit irrigation make potato a challenging crop to irrigate. Research has developed techniques to determine ideal irrigation timing based on allowable soil water depletion (ASWD), soil water tension (SWT), and crop evapotranspiration (ETc). Irrigation amounts are based on soil water status or ETc. Sprinkler irrigation systems are generally superior to furrow systems for potato production. Drip irrigation systems are used in specialized production circumstances and are the subject of intensive research. Irrigation practices for potato have strong interactions with nutrient management, especially nitrogen rates and timings. Optimal irrigation management for potato crop is demanding, because both under and over irrigation have clear negative consequences.
Costs and Benefits of More Efficient Irrigation Systems for Florida Chipping Potato Production
EDIS
The goal of this 11-page fact sheet is to help producers and other interested parties understand how alternative irrigation systems can affect economic outcomes in agricultural operations. We used chipping potato production in the Hastings area in northeast Florida as an example to discuss factors to consider when selecting an irrigation system. Written by Jenna Rogers, Tatiana Borisova, Lincoln Zotarelli, Kelly Grogan, Jeffrey Ullman, Jessica Bertine, and Kelly Morgan, and published by the UF Department of Food and Resource Economics, September 2014.
1996
The members ofthe Maine potato ecosystem research group dedicate this publication to Wallace C. "Wally" Dunham, past Dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Agriculture and Director of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. He hired each of us, he displayed courage in establishing our group, he provided the initial funds, the land, and the facilities, he maintained trust and belief in our abilities and motives, and he gave us his encouragement and blessings throughout. He was our mentor. And we ask the readers to think of our students when reading this publication, for it is their commitment to the principles of ecologically balanced and environmentally sensitive agriculture and their steadfast pursuit of knowledge that provide us with both a guiding inspiration and a purpose beyond our own.
Yield, cost, and revenue functions of potato (cv. Agria) were developed from field experiments in 2007-2008, which were designed to determine the response of tuber yield to no irrigation for two weeks at tuber bulking (TB) and tuber ripening (TR). Deficit-irrigated treatments were compared to a well-irrigated control (C) throughout the growing season. The yield-profit maximization methodology of English (1990) was reviewed and a new procedure based on optimization software was proposed. Treatment with deficit irrigation at TB achieved marketable yield 12% lower than that obtained in the well-irrigated control (60.5 Mg ha −1), whereas deficit irrigation at TR reduced tuber yield by 42%, compared to the control. However, yield reduction was compensated by an increase in tuber dry matter in the deficit-irrigated treatments. The results of the newly proposed yield-profit maximization procedure show that when land is limiting, the level of water applied at which net income per unit of land is maximized (W l) fits the yield maximizing (W m) strategy, while when water is limiting, the level of water applied at which net income per unit of water is maximized (W w) would result in as much water saving as 10-15% of total applied water. The results also suggest that the target yield that was obtained in the treatment with deficit irrigation at tuber bulking (53.6 t ha −1) was in the range of 500-560 mm of water application. We concluded that deficit irrigation at tuber bulking for two weeks is a suitable scenario for potato farming, with potential benefits resulting from reduced irrigation costs.