You inherit a 100-hectare farm. The only water is a shared aquifer that your neighbors also pump. Irrigation is the largest human use of freshwater, so how you deliver water decides how long the aquifer lasts, how salty your soil becomes, and whether the farm makes money.
You have 20 years. Your goal: earn a profit without draining the aquifer or poisoning the soil with salt.
A farmer must get the same amount of water to a corn crop's roots using each method below. Which method will need the least groundwater pumped from the aquifer?
Same crop, same weather, same field: change one thing, the irrigation method. Each method loses some water to evaporation and runoff before it reaches the roots. Use the table to compare, then go run the farm.
Loss rates come from the AP Environmental Science Course and Exam Description: flood about 20%, furrow about 33%, spray 25% or less, drip about 5%. Costs and yields are rounded model values, not field data.
Cross-section of one crop row under each method. The green bar is the share that reaches the roots, the red bar is the share lost to evaporation and runoff (loss rates from the table above).
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